Desire Cruise
by swift56
Summary: Greed. It's a powerful thing, compelling people to take, and take, and take. But have you ever heard the tale of the king who's greed led to his own death? The objects he desired were scattered to the far winds. Now, someone seeking them, for a different cause, appears, yet, he has his own kind of greed, just like any good pirate.
1. Prologue

**Surprise!**

 **Yeahp, I'm already releasing this.**

 **And the next chapter isn't too far behind either, so you'll have it within the next week probably.**

 **Anyway, let's set sail for adventure!**

* * *

"Finally, took a while to hunt this down, but now I have them all." Muttered a young man with platinum blonde hair and green eyes wearing a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans with red sneakers as he walked on a sidewalk near a park, holding something in his hand.

The object in his hands was a plastic casing with three black medals inside and a green-blue colored USB key with an M shaped brain on it.

It was the DX Kamen Rider OOO and W Movie War Core Medal Set EX, which contained the black arthropod medals, and the Memory Memory.

It was also the last set of Core Medals he was missing to complete his collection.

The red avian medals, the green insect medals, the yellow feline medals, the blue sea creatures medals, the white large mammals medals, the purple dinosaur medals, the orange reptile medals, and now the black arthropod medals.

He now had all the medals used by Kamen Rider OOO to achieve his forms.

Well, the black medals were only theoretical as he'd never used them in the series, but he still wanted them to have a complete collection.

Suddenly, he heard a small noise from in front of him, looking up to see a red ball bouncing across the sidewalk and onto the middle of the road, and a young boy running after it, though thankfully the light was red so it safe for him to cross.

Smiling a bit as he looked at the boy for a few moments, he went back to observing his newest find, before a more… worrying noise reached his ears.

He looked back up quickly, seeing a pickup truck swerving down the road, able to see that the driver was passed out at the wheel at that.

His eyes widened as he realised the boy was in danger, taking a split second to think about it, before dropping his newest acquisition and took off running.

He reached the road just as the boy finally noticed the truck, picking him up and realising at the same time he wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time, so instead he threw the boy forwards, making him land on the other sidewalk, before he felt the impact on his body.

It was… an interesting experience to say the least.

The force of the impact detached his head from his torso, which allowed him to see his body being turned into a bloody and gory mess, while the boy looked on horrified.

Before his head touched the ground, his lips quirked upwards with his last thought 'At least the kid is safe.'

And with that, nothingness claimed him.

* * *

He didn't know what to expect when nothingness claimed him...but he was pretty sure it wasn't what came next. Instead of some kind of judgement hall or pearly gates, or even fire and brimstone, he was...sitting in front of a tea table, with an old man that honestly looked a LOT like his grandfather.

He blinked in confusion, before looking around the area, and then refocusing on the man "Um… Grampa? Is that you?"

The old man smiled before laughing softly "Oh, no young man, I'm not your grandfather, though I must admit, it's kind of you to base your vision of me on him."

The young man nodded slowly at that "Uh, alright then, can you tell me who you are in that case sir?"

"How polite. Well, since you asked so nicely, I am God, it's a pleasure to meet you Lumen Arkos." God, apparently, said.

"Pleasure to meet you as well… though, it's Arcus, not Arkos. I mean, it would be hilarious if my family name was the name of my favorite pairing from one of my shows, but, you know." Lumen said with a shrug and a small smile.

God blinked in surprise "Ah, I see, I'll have to update the records then, it seems Gabriel made a mistake when entering your family name."

He then cleared his throat "Now then, I assume you must have at least a small idea of why you are here?"

Lumen nodded "Well, I died after I managed to get that kid out of the way from the truck. So I'm guessing this is where you decide whether I'm going to heaven or hell?"

"You have the first part right at least, but, now, you aren't going to heaven or hell, not yet, though I can at least say that what you did pretty much guaranteed you a spot right here, it counterbalances the rather small list of sins you have, honestly the most prominent one is greed, and even then it's rather controlled, the most you did was hoard your money and then spend portions of it on the things you wanted, which, honestly, I find sensible." God said, pulling out a list from nowhere.

"Well, I guess that's nice to know, but, if I'm not going to heaven or hell, what am I here for?" Lumen said, raising an eyebrow at god.

God nodded as he put away the list "Right, well, you see Lumen, I brought you here because, honestly, it wasn't your time to die yet, and that's not only bad for you, but it's also annoyed the grim reaper, by the way, he promises the drunk driver will have his soul tortured a bit as a way of making it up to you."

"It wasn't the kid's time to die was it?" Lumen asked worriedly.

God shook his head "No, no of course not, that boy is going to die when he's 76 years old with his wife holding his hand as he goes peacefully in his sleep."

"Oddly specific but also nice to hear at the same time." Lumen muttered.

"You see Lumen, what I'm going to do is offer you a chance to continue your life, though, sadly, I can't let you just continue in your birth world, so we need to put you someplace else. Which is why, so we can be impartial about it, you're going to spin a wheel."

Lumen blinked as he processed that "I… think that makes sense. Right, ok, where's the wheel then?"

God chuckled as he waved his hands "Slow down a bit, I still have more to say. Now, I'm gonna let you bring a few things with you, anything you want, and I'll even let you write a letter to your family if you'd like."

Lumen nodded "I'd like to do that yes."

God nodded "Alright, so first of all, what would you like to bring with you?"

Lumen put a hand to his chin as he thought about it. "If I brought a toy with me, would it become the real object?"

God chuckled a bit "I think I see where this is going. Yes, it does, it's pretty much a universal rule that when an object passes the border between realms it starts to react strangely, such as a fake item becoming real, or a video game spitting out some of the gear you've obtained in it."

Lumen nodded at that, before looking back at God "In that case, could I bring my DX OOO Driver and a few core medals with me?"

God laughed a bit "Of course my boy, it's a simple thing, though I will have to put a limit on the number of medals, how does 7 sound?"

"At least two full combo and an extra medal… sounds good, in that case, I'll take the three green medals, the three yellow medals, and the Taka medal." Lumen said with a nod.

God snapping his fingers, and sitting on the table in front of Lumen was what he had asked for, the OOO Driver, and the 7 medals he had chosen.

"Now then, if you'll step up to the wheel and give it a spin, we can figure out where you'll be going." God said as he snapped his fingers, making a large wheel like the kind used on gameshows appear.

Lumen nodded as he went towards it, but before spinning it, he looked at all the options.

Some were definitely promising, such as Naruto, Fairy Tail, Bleach, and RWBY, others were more scary, like Attack on Titan, Evangelion or Devilman.

Then there were the ones he didn't really know what to say for, like Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Highschool of the Dead.

"Well, here goes nothing." Lumen said as he grabbed hold of the large wheel and gave it a spin, pulling it as hard as could.

He kept watching the wheel as it spun and spun, not seeming close to stopping just yet.

"Huh, guess that was a good swing then." Lumen muttered as he looked at his hand before turning back to the wheel, which was finally starting to slow down. As it started to slow, he got worried every time it rolled over some of the more horrific anime worlds...before finally stopping...on One Piece. He blinked at that. One Piece wasn't really one of the series he followed much, that was more his sister, but he knew the gist of it. A young pirate setting out to find the greatest treasure and become the Pirate King. Seemed light hearted and comedic enough as far as he knew. "Well, at least it wasn't Attack on Titan…" he muttered under his breath.

"Be glad I didn't put Berserk on that list, I think that would have been counterintuitive." God said simply as he motioned for him to sit back down.

"I think putting in Attack on Titan, Devilman, and even Evangelion is already pushing it," Lumen couldn't help but comment. "Thanks though for not putting in Berserk."

"Now then, you're going to the world of One Piece, and chances are, you'll be a pirate. Don't worry, as long as you don't act like a stereotypical pirate, you still have a chance at heaven when you'll die." God said simply, trying to wave off any concerns.

"Well, that's good to know then, considering I wasn't planning on pillaging villages, murdering people, or raping women in the first place." Lumen said with a bit of amusement.

God laughed lightly "Now then, why don't you get to writing that letter to your family, don't worry, they'll get it with perfect timing."

"Somehow, I think that means after my funeral." Lumen muttered as he grabbed the pen and paper that appeared in front of him suddenly and started writing.

Roughly an hour later, he was done writing the letter, putting it in an envelope and leaving on the table, before eventually looking back up at God "So… now what?"

"Well, now I'm gonna send you to the One Piece world, preferably some place you can actually do something, or, you know, be on the path to something." God said before snapping his fingers, and Lumen barely had the time to open his mouth before he was gone in a flash.

* * *

A young girl woke up slowly in her room, opening her eyes and looking up at her ceiling.

Though it was currently the afternoon and she was fully dressed in a black dress.

Her green eyes were red and puffy, and her long platinum blonde hair was a mess.

It was understandable seeing as she'd cried herself to sleep after her older brother's funeral.

Slowly, she sat up in her bed, looking around, focusing on a picture of herself and her brother on her desk, grabbing it and looking at it with a soft smile before hugging it.

She was soon broken out of her thoughts however as she heard her mother's voice "Marie! Come downstairs! Quickly!"

Blinking, Marie looked towards the door in confusion, wondering why her mother's voice sounded so hopeful and excited.

After a minute of deliberation, she walked out of her room, coming down the stairs and into the living room, where she could see her father looking stunned and her mother crying, but, not tears of sadness like earlier, tears of happiness.

"What's going on?" she asked in a quiet voice.

In response, her father lifted up a letter, which she looked at for a moment before grabbing and starting to read.

Immediately, her eyes widened as she recognized the handwriting.

'Hey there Mom, Dad, and Marie.

I know this looks pretty strange right now, since you most likely found this letter right after my funeral, but, I want to say that, obviously, I'm sorry I had to die, but I couldn't just let that kid get run over like that, you ought to know the feeling dad, I mean, you are a Navy Seals (Is that how you say it? Doesn't really matter if you know what I mean). So, to get down to the really important part of this letter, I did in fact die, but then I ended up meeting God, yes, the literal christian God, though he wasn't as strict as the bible leads people to believe considering he thought it was fine that I hoarded my money a bit. Anyway, after I met him, he told me that I wasn't supposed to die when I did, nor was the kid thankfully, and that the driver who run me over is gonna get tortured personally by the Grim Reaper (yeah, he's real too apparently) before going to hell. So, as a way of apologizing, he's letting me continue my life in another universe, though sadly I couldn't come back to you guys. He even let me bring a few things with me, so, Marie, if you go through my stuff (I know it's you, don't deny it) don't be surprised when you find the OOO Driver and 7 of my Core Medals are missing, I took them with me. As for where I'm going, he made me spin a wheel, and it had a lot of options, like Naruto, RWBY (I would have loved going to Remnant, no such luck though) Evangelion, Attack on Titan, DBZ, and Highschool of the Dead (on one hand, beautiful girls everywhere I look, on the other, zombies). In the end, the wheel stopped on One Piece, and I now regret not watching it with you Marie, the farthest that I know is them going up the Reverse Mountain you showed me, and after that, it's a mystery to me. So, chances are, I'm gonna end up becoming a pirate (sorry dad) and I apologize in advance mom if I do or say some things you don't approve of. Sorry if any of you get an aneurism or I end up breaking reality.

Sincerely, Lumen.

P.S. God said something about putting a surprise in your computer Marie, he didn't say what it was though.'

Marie couldn't hold back the tears or her smile as she read the letter.

It was definitely Lumen alright, no one else shrugged off supreme weirdness like he did.

When she looked back up, she could see her father had recovered a bit from his shock and was holding her mom close as she continued to cry happily at Lumen being alive, even if he was in another world.

Wordlessly, Marie put the letter down on the coffee table, nodding to her father as she went back to her room, quickly turning on her computer as she sat in front of it.

When it finished booting up, she quickly noticed a new folder sitting right in the middle of her desktop marked with the word Present.

Raising an eyebrow, she clicked it open, seeing two more folders inside, one titled Anime and the other Manga.

Curious, she opened up the Manga folder, and what she saw made her blink a few times as she read it.

One Piece: Desire Cruise.

Looking somewhat skeptical, she clicked on Chapter 1, which opened a new window, settling on a cover image.

The image had the usual One Piece logo up at the top, with the words Desire Cruise in cursive beneath it.

As for the characters on the cover, they were all drawn in the recent manga art style instead of the old one from several years ago, showing the Strawhat pirates as they were before entering the Grand Line, the Going Merry standing proudly behind them, and in the background were two faces, both familiar to her.

One of them, looking towards the right, was her brother, as if he'd been drawn in the art style of One Piece, while on the other side, looking towards the left, was the hawk inspired mask of Kamen Rider OOO.

Clicking on the button for the next page, it opened up to the normal message from the narrator, speaking about how Gol D Roger had attained wealth, fame and power, the people knowing him as the Pirate King, and then the words he uttered at his execution that sent countless souls towards the open waters, and, honestly, she couldn't help but read them again.

'You want my treasure? You can have it! I left it all in that one place. Now, you just have to find it.'

As she turned to the next page, she blinked as she skimmed the panels, showing the ocean, seagulls flying overhead, before focusing on an unnamed island somewhere in the East Blue, and finally, showing a figure lying down on the beach of the island, which was quickly revealed to be her brother, fast asleep, making her smile somewhat.

Knowing there was more to come, she turned to the next page.

* * *

Slowly, Lumen's eyes opened, his arm reached up and blocking out the sun that was shining overhead.

After blinking the spots out of his eyes, he sat up, looking out at the sea before him as he took a deep breath of the salty sea air, reminding him of the times when his father showed him around a docked battleship when he was younger.

Then, slowly, a small grin spread on his face "I lived you drunk asshole." he muttered lowly.

At the same time, a ship with a goat figurehead was visible as but a dot on the horizon.

* * *

 **Yes, it's short, I know, but this was just setting the basic scene of the story.**

 **Now, the scene with god, that's pretty much a reference to the anime that has smartphone in it's title which I can never fully remember for some reason, you probably know what I'm talking about.**

 **Thing I also want to note, I want to thank Timeless Dreamer Neo for the help he provides in writing these, so thanks a lot for the assist man.**

 **Anyway, see you in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the next chapter already!**

 **Nothing much to say except I hope you enjoy the obvious chapter where our hero meets the Strawhats.**

* * *

Lumen hummed a few random notes to himself as he walked through the thicket of trees on the island he'd landed on, playing with the Taka medal in between his fingers as he kept moving it around.

Eventually, he reached a small clearing, looking around and nodding to himself "Looks good." he muttered as he pulled the OOO Driver out of nowhere, a trick he didn't fully understand, but blamed on Rider physics being weird, and placed it over his waist, a silver belt wrapping around him with the scanner attached to the right side of the belt and the medal holder on the left side, though his own medal holder was customized and could hold even more medals than normal.

Flipping it open, he grabbed the yellow Tora medal and the green Batta medal, grinning slightly as he flipped the Tora medal into the air, slotting the Taka and Batta medals in, before grabbing Tora out of the air and putting it in the middle slot and tilting the driver down towards the left as it started to pulse while he grabbed the scanner and swiped it across, taking the same pose as the previous OOO, Hino Eiji.

"Henshin." he uttered simply as he rested the scanner over his chest as the holographic apparitions of all the medals appearing spinning around him, and catching his eye were apparitions of the orange and black medals even, making him grin as he realised what that meant, but before that…

" **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"**

The apparitions settled on the hawk, tiger and grasshopper images, forming a crest with all three animals that slammed into his chest, generating the armor over his body.

The armor was mostly black in color, with the head having a red, hawk inspired motif on the front with green, compound style lens over the eyes, and the portion of his chest emblem having a small hawk within it.

The arms and torso had yellow lines over it and yellow piece of armor, along with a set of claws on each arm that he could flip out with just a thought, making the tiger portion on his chest glow and growl each time.

Finally, his legs had green lines and armor bits on it, and the bottom portion of his chest symbol had a grasshopper in it, which glowed whenever he willed his legs into actual grasshopper legs.

Grinning behind his mask as he studied his morphed legs, he crouched down, before pushing upwards with all his strength, sending himself high into the air as he saw the ocean from a high viewpoint.

Then he noticed something getting close towards the island, and the eyes in his helmet flashed as they focused on what it was, letting him see a caravel with a goat head at the front, a boy with a straw hat sitting on it, and flying a black flag with a skull and crossbones wearing that same straw hat.

When his eyes trailed back down to the boy, he was staring straight at him in surprise, before he fell back down into the forest below.

Meanwhile, over on the Going Merry…

"Hey! Usopp! Did you see that?!" Luffy called up to the crow's nest from his special seat on Merry.

"You mean the thing that shot up into the air and then fell back down? Yeah, I saw it, not sure what it was tough, too far to tell." Usopp shot back down.

Just as he expected, Luffy had his grin in place as he looked back at the island "Alright! Full speed ahead! I want to see what the mystery thing was!"

"Well, I guess we could use the island to stock up on fruits and anything else we find, that way we'll be spending less money in Loguetown." Nami muttered, before nodding and turning towards the kitchen "Sanji! Adjust our course towards the west!"

"Your will is my command Nami-Swan!" Sanji called out as he immediately adjusted the ship's course.

"Stupid… cook…" Zoro muttered in his sleep, somehow being able to tell Sanji was obeying Nami's every word.

Meanwhile, back with Lumen, he had landed on his feet and undid his transformation, before walking towards the shore, recognizing the Jolly Roger as belonging to the main characters of the series, so he knew they wouldn't just outright attack him.

At the same time, he was working out a cover story to tell them, and he was sure he had one that would work well.

As he reached the beach, he saw the ship was much closer, close enough even that he could make out the people standing on it.

The captain, and idiot of a young man who ate Gum Gum Fruit and became a rubber man, Monkey D Luffy.

Up on the crow's nest stood the sniper of the crew, Usopp, known for being a chronic liar.

And the last visible person on the deck was the navigator, a young woman who loved collecting treasure, Nami.

He was sure there should be two other crew members as well, the three swords using swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, and the chef who can kick your ass and look stylish at the same time, Sanji.

"Hey!" Luffy called out to him and waved his arms up in the air.

"What are pirates doing all the way out here?!" Lumen shouted back at the ship.

"We saw something jump super high in the sky and came to see what it was, and we're grabbing anything we can find for food too!" Luffy called back, and Lumen could see Nami sighing at how open with their plans Luffy was.

"Come ashore then! I'm sure I can help you find what you're looking for!" Lumen called back one last time.

"OK! Thanks!" Luffy shouted before turning back to his crew and speaking at a more normal volume where all Lumen heard were murmurs as the ship steadily got closer.

When it did finally dock at the shore, he saw four of the crew members coming onto the beach, with Zoro staying on the ship, probably as a form of precaution.

"Welcome to this little island I've been exploring. In front of you you'll find trees, trees, oh, and trees." Lumen said with a joking grin.

It got him some amused reactions from the crew members, though Luffy was alright chuckling "You're pretty funny." the captain said with a grin.

"I do try sometimes." Lumen admitted with a shrug "So, you said you wanted to know what that thing that jumped up high was, right?"

"Yeah! Do you know what it was?!" Luffy asked excitedly.

Lumen slowly grinned "You're looking at it."

That threw them for a loop "Huh?" they all said at the same time.

"Ok, this is going to take a few minutes to explain." Lumen said as he figured out what to open with "Have any of you ever heard the tale of the Multi King?"

Nami, Usopp and Sanji's eyes widened, and Lumen was surprised by that little confirmation.

"I thought that was just a story parents told kids to keep them in line 'If you don't behave the Multi King will rise from the grave and steal everything you own.' you know, stuff like that, you mean he was real?" Usopp said in barely a whisper.

"As real as all of us." Lumen said, rolling with the opportunity "And I found some of his possessions right here on this little island, no tomb though, so I doubt this is where his kingdom was. The objects I found though were just as important as the kingdom itself though." he started before pulling out the Driver and three of the medals "What I have dubbed the OOO Driver, the object the king used to access the power of these, Core Medals, medallions created through alchemy that each harness the power of one animal, all coming in sets of at least three of the same color, and all following a theme." he said before switching out the medals for the three yellow medals "For example, this one is large felines."

"How many of these are there?" Nami asked as she eyed the medals with a curious eye, wondering if they had any monetary worth.

"From what I've gathered so far, there are at least 8 sets of core medals, all in different colors, and each representing a different animal, and I've even been able to identify the most dangerous as the purple medal set." Lumen said, deciding to explain as much as he could about the Core Medals.

"Dangerous how?" Sanji asked as he let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

"Where as every other medal pushes people to want, to feel, to desire, the purple medals are the opposite of desire entirely, they are nothingness, they are cold and empty, imagine that you had no dreams or aspirations, that's what they feel like." Lumen explained gravely, wanting to make them realise this now to prepare them for when he knew he would be obtaining the purple medals.

They all felt a chill go down their spines at the thought, before three strawhats who actually knew what he was talking about turned to Luffy, seeing him looking down and appearing to be actually thinking.

"So… if I touched one of those purple medal things… I wouldn't want to be Pirate King anymore?" he said slowly as he tried to understand it, looking at Lumen for confirmation.

Lumen nodded "You wouldn't want anything, you wouldn't be hungry, you would have no dreams."

Luffy was silent for a few moments before nodding "That's bad."

"Correct, however… I believe that having more Core Medals that push people to have desires would counteract the effects of the purple medals." Lumen added, which honestly, it was his own theory.

"How many do you have?" Usopp asked, curious.

"7 so far, two of which are full sets, however I can't use a Full Combo just like that, they are powerful, but they also tire out the user." Lumen added with a shrug.

"Did you test one out?" Sanji asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lumen knew this was a lie, but he was already certain of the effects, so it was acceptable in his mind "Yes, I only took the form for less than a minute and felt on the verge of passing out, though I believe it's possible to build up an immunity to it by enough exposure to Core Medals."

Luffy looked at him "So… you used the medals to jump super high then, right?"

"Essentially, what the medals do is they create an armor onto my body, which grants me the powers of the three animals that I chose to power it, my most basic form combines the sight of a hawk, the claws of a tiger, and the legs of a grasshopper." Lumen explained simply.

"Cool so you're like one of those… Cimora things, right?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"You mean Chimera, Luffy." Usopp said plainly.

"That's what I said." Luffy shot back, oblivious to his mistake.

Lumen laughed a bit at the byplay "Essentially, the armor does make me like a sort of humanoid chimera yes, and I decided to give it a name based on a few stories I've heard, even though the Multi-King wasn't worthy of the title."

"What's the name then? Must be big if the king wasn't worthy by your standards." Nami asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kamen Rider OOO." Lumen said with a grin "You see, Kamen Riders are supposed to be heroes who save the weak and helpless from monsters, and I got OOO from some of information I found on the Multi-King which referred to him as King OOO."

"I don't think I've ever heard of Kamen Riders though." Sanji said in thought.

"That's because the stories about them are told only on my home as far as I know." Lumen said simply, already having figured out how to explain it.

"Hey, why was he called King OOO though?" Usopp asked, curious about that bit.

"It stands for Over Infinity, the first two O make the infinity symbol, while the third is supposed to symbolise going beyond infinity." Lumen said. "It's pretty obvious the king was overconfident in his abilities."

"How did you figure out most of this stuff?" Sanji asked, curious.

"Well, I managed to find a few old scriptures dating back to the king's time, but now their pretty much lost at sea after some dolphins that are far too smart in my opinion towed away my boat and left me stranded here." Lumen said in the most perfect deadpan possible.

They all looked at him, blinking a few times "Those dolphins sound like a pain alright." Nami muttered.

"So, what are you planning on doing now?" Usopp asked.

"I was hoping you could give me a ride to the nearest populated island, I'd be willing to work off the transport by helping around your ship." Lumen said with a shrug.

"I got a better idea!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Oh boy, here we go." Nami groaned with a facepalm, knowing what was coming.

"I want you to join my crew!" Luffy said, his eyes shining "It would be so cool to have a superhero on my crew, plus you're like, super smart, right?"

"Well, I'd say I'm more on the above average level of intellect than Super Smart… thanks for the compliment though." Lumen said with a smirk.

"Do you know your way around a ship?" Sanji asked, hoping that maybe Lumen would join so he could have someone to hold a conversation with.

"Yeah, my dad was a Marine." he said, altering the truth just slightly to fit into this world.

"Wait, seriously, your dad's a Marine?!" Usopp shouted in shock, looking a little worried.

"Keyword, Was, he's retired now after an injury." that part at least was the truth, his father was wounded in the line of duty, having his leg permanently injured and slowing him down, so he was honorably discharged.

"Well… I guess that's better." Usopp said with a relieved sigh.

"I hope it is, my mom was a Marine remember?" Nami shot at Usopp with a slightly annoyed face.

"Uh, right, sorry, slipped my mind for a moment." Usopp said with a nervous laugh.

"So, does that mean you know Marine stuff?" Luffy asked Lumen with a grin.

"I know how they run their ships and the most likely actions they are to take in case of battle." Lumen said with a smile, though honestly he was hoping that the Marines of this world acted like the Navy Seals did, with any luck, they did.

"Cool! Then you could be our Specialist on Marines!" Luffy shouted with a grin.

"That's… actually a good idea." Nami said, surprised as she turned to Luffy "And where did you learn the word specialist from?"

"My gramps whenever he visited back home." Luffy said with a shrug, and they accepted that response.

He then turned back to Lumen "So, what do you say?" he said as he held out his hand.

Lumen looked at it for a few moments, before smiling and shaking Luffy's hand "I say I'm happy to come aboard Captain."

"Great!... oh, hey, I just realised you didn't tell us your name." Luffy said plainly, making the others facefault.

Lumen laughed sheepishly as he picked himself up, and remembered that all the examples he had seen from this world put the family name first "Right, the name's Arcus Lumen, pleasure to meet all of you."

Luffy nodded with a grin "I'm Monkey D Luffy, the man who's gonna be Pirate King! That's my Sniper, Usopp, my Navigator, Nami, and my Cook, Sanji. And my swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, is on the ship right now. Oh, right! The ship is called Going Merry, almost forgot to introduce her."

They all nodded as they were introduced, except of course for Zoro who was out of earshot and the Merry, because, well, it's a ship, it can't nod.

"At least it's someone sensible this time." Nami said with a small sigh, before smiling a bit.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usopp said with a glare.

"You're a chronic liar, do I really need to explain more?" Nami shot him a look that translated to 'Disagree and there shall be pain'.

In return, Usopp gulped fearfully and took a few steps away from her.

"Anyway." Nami cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention "So, Lumen, as you're part of the crew now, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm the one who handles our money, and, since I assume you lost most of your stuff because of those dolphins, I'll let you a bit of leeway with your next purchases and expect to be payed back with a portion of the next treasure we find, but, you can only buy essentials."

"Sounds fair, so, basically, all I need are a few shirts, pants, and I guess a coat." Lumen said with a nod.

Nami nodded as she did the mental calculations "Right, so if you don't get too much, I think that should go to 8000 Berries, and with the money we got recently… it's an acceptable purchase."

"I'm surprised you aren't asking him to sell those medals of his." Usopp said with a raised eyebrow.

"They create his armor right? So if he sells them, he can't fight, I may like money, but I'm not cruel enough to make one our members unable to defend themselves." Nami said with a shrug.

"If I may?" Lumen said while raising his hand, getting their attention "I found a cave earlier in the forest, it's got a low ceiling, but I think it might be possible to find ores and minerals in it." that bit was truthful, he had seen the cave while looking around for a spot to test the Driver out, and made sure to note its location in the back of his mind.

Nami grinned "Well, I guess in that case you can pay for your clothes in advance, if we do find anything worth it that is."

"Maybe we could find some salt rocks in it." Sanji muttered in thought.

"That would definitely reduce the amount of things we need to buy at Loguetown." Nami said with a nod before turning to Lumen "Can you take us there?"

"Sure, it's not too far from the beach." Lumen said as he pointed back into the trees.

"Alright, in that case, Sanji and I will go with you. Usopp, Luffy, you two grab fruits off the trees and get them back to the Merry." Nami ordered the two more childish members away, knowing bringing them into a cave was like asking for rocks to fall on their head.

"Well, before we go then, I should probably put the armor on." Lumen said as he brought the Driver up before putting it on his waist, making his new crew members blink at the belt that formed.

"Cool! I wanna watch this!" Luffy said with a bright grin.

Lumen chuckled at that "Alright then." he said as he brought out the three main medals, flipping Tora upwards as he slotted Taka and Batta in, before catching Tora out of the air and slotting it in as well.

Tilting the Driver, he passed the Scanner over it and placed it in front of his chest as he uttered "Henshin."

" **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"**

They all stepped back a bit as the armor formed on him, with Luffy's eyes practically turning into stars as he watched "That's so cool!"

OOO grinned underneath his mask at the words "It's pretty awesome yeah. So, when I'm like this, just call me OOO."

Nami rose an eyebrow before shrugging, not seeing any issue with the request "Alright then, we'll follow you to the cave OOO."

He nodded, and turned towards the forest before starting to walk, Nami and Sanji following after him, while Usopp went back to the ship to get baskets to carry fruit in.

As for Luffy, he sat down on the sand with a happy grin "A new crew member… awesome! Shishishi!"

Meanwhile, OOO, Nami and Sanji had quickly reached the cave, having to bend down to get inside, though it quickly widened out the further they got in, with OOO being able to identify mineral deposits near the entrance easily, though, most of it was rather worthless unless sold in bulk, but they did find plenty of salt rocks.

As they got deeper though, it started to get darker inside the cave.

"We can't see anything like this." Sanji muttered as he tried to peer through the darkness.

"Dammit, I can just smell the treasure nearby as well." Nami muttered in annoyance.

"I have something that can help then I think." OOO said as he switched out medals in the dark.

" **LION! TORA! BATTA!"**

As the new helmet was applied, OOO simply had to focus for a few seconds to activate its power, generating a light from it, illuminating the caves around them, and allowing Sanji and Nami to see the new helmet.

It was mostly black like the previous one, but had golden spikes around it to imitate the appearance of a lion's mane, the eyes being tinted a dark blue color as the small gem on the helmet's forehead shined. The only other change was a lion's head replacing the hawk on the top of the chest piece.

At the same time, Nami noticed something about the area around them.

It was glinting.

Looking around, her eyes widened along with her grin as she realised they were surrounded by bright looking stones embedded into the walls, ceiling and floor of the cave.

And bright looking stones equalled gemstones, which equalled lots of money.

She turned to OOO who had noticed this as well "I can officially say that you and I will get along just perfectly."

OOO chuckled a bit at that while Sanji smiled in amusement, before eyeing the stones around them.

"With this many gems we can probably get enough money to stock up on a month's worth of food, or more if we get a padlock for the fridge so Luffy stops going through it." he said as he thought about how to ration the amount of food they could buy.

"Padlock is added onto the list of things we definitely need to buy at Loguetown then, how much food will we have then?" Nami agreed with a nod.

"I'd say… 4 months worth of food." Sanji recalculated quickly and answered with a firm nod.

"Wait, Luffy is that much of a glutton?" OOO asked in surprise.

"Sometimes it's worse. Oh! Word of warning, keep your food safe when you're eating or he might try and steal it off your plate." Nami said with a sigh.

OOO nodded, grateful for the heads up, as he tried to find a way of easily digging through the walls.

It took some thinking, but eventually they settled on Sanji making precise kicks to loosen some of the rocks and OOO prying them out with the Tora claws.

They managed to get quite a good haul, judging by Nami's wide smile as she carried several precious stones in her hands and pockets.

When they got back to the shore, they could see the ship had been pulled slightly closer and that Zoro was helping to bring up the baskets of fruits onto the ship.

The green haired swordsman did notice their arrival though, turning to them with a raised eyebrow "So, you're the new guy right?"

OOO nodded "That's right, and I'm guessing you're Zoro?"

Zoro nodded, before looking at the armor with a curious eye "So… anything about that armor make you use swords?"

"Well, yes actually." OOO said before pulling out the Kamakiri medal and switching it in.

" **LION! KAMAKIRI! BATTA!"**

With the change done, they could see the new armor piece featured, obviously, a mantis in the middle of the chest, with green lines and pieces covering his arms, and a pair of blades on the underside of the gauntlets, which flipped forward and extended with a flick of his wrist, turning into a pair of reversed grip swords.

Zoro looked at the blades closely "These look pretty good… can you use them though?"

OOO shook his head "No, the most I know on how to use these would probably be horizontal swings."

Zoro nodded "Yeah, if you want to be able to chain attacks together quickly, but to really put power into your swings, make them rising, flicking the wrist up at the same time for a longer swing, though, you need to be able to throw a punch as well."

"That, I can do." OOO said with a nod, stepping back to demonstrate as he did a few practice punches, while also applying Zoro's tip.

Zoro studied his form closely, before nodding in satisfaction "Alright, you got the gist of it from what I can tell, but you aren't much of a fighter, right?"

OOO shook his head "Not really, I have had a few fights before, but I'm expecting a lot more from here on out, so I should get my body in better shape."

"Good thinking on that at least." Zoro approved, nodding at the logic.

"Alright guys! I made a decision on something!" Luffy announced suddenly, getting everyone's attention "We're going to stay here for a few days so Lumen can get up to speed on fighting, and we're gonna be training a bit as well!"

"I said to call me OOO like this." OOO muttered, but still nodded, smiling thankfully at his new captain from under his helmet.

"I guess it would be a good idea to brush up on our skills before entering the Grand Line, plus, we can try and extract more gems from that cave at the same time." Nami agreed with the order "Good call for once Luffy!"

Zoro turned to Nami with a deadpan stare "Money hungry witch."

OOO chuckled lightly to himself "This is going to be one heck of a cruise."

* * *

Marie, reading her brother's words as the chapter ended, smiled to herself, happy that he was in good hands from now on, and knowing he would be having fun.

Such was the life of a strawhat pirate after all.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **That's right, off screen training.**

 **Lumen needs it to be of actual use to the crew.**

 **And yeah, Nami is already liking him due to find a large stash of gems and minerals XD**

 **To anyone who thinks the ship is going to happen quickly because of that, don't worry, it's more that she sees him as a friend because of that.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and see you all next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 2

**After a long year, Desire Cruise FINALLY makes a return!**

 **The reason for such a long break?**

 **We kind of felt... apprehensive since this chapter is a movie chapter, ALREADY.**

 **And yes, that means early One Piece movies, don't worry though, it got adapted to fit into canon properly.**

 **Which one is it?**

 **Clockwork Island Adventure.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Wow, I just joined and ALREADY I get a vacation? This crew must be paradise," Lumen joked.

He was currently wearing a pair of red, yellow and green swimming trunks as he stood on the beach of a new island they had moved to.

They had stayed on the one he ended up on for a few days, enough for him to get a proper understanding of the area, and they'd ended up draining the island of most resources… which they sold as soon as they reached THIS island, and Nami had been VERY happy.

At least 100 Million Berries apparently for all the minerals.

Which may be why she was, in her own words, allowing him to put sunscreen on her back.

Honestly… he wasn't complaining.

"I don't have all day you know?" Nami said from where she lay on a long chair, lying flat on her stomach and the back of her bikini undone.

"Right away your highness." Lumen said in a joking tone before he grabbed the bottle and started applying it to her back.

While that was happening, they noticed the other Straw Hats simply enjoying the vacation in their own way, like Zoro who was doing one handed push ups...with a bunch of weighted sacks on his back, Usopp who had a floatation device to help enjoy the sea, Sanji who was roasting some corn they found growing not far away...while shooting Lumen some jealous looks every now and then, and finally Luffy who was…

"Hey guys! I found something awesome!" he shouted...not that any of them were really paying attention since the last two time he'd done it it was something...incredibly mundane, or only mildly interesting. That changed of course when… "Hey look! Merry is so awesome!"

"...why is Luffy talking about the ship?" Lumen mused.

"No idea. Luffy, the Merry is docked. What could be so interesting?" Nami grumbled.

"But it's right there, sailing by itself!" Luffy grinned excitedly.

It took a few moments for his words to sink in… before they all shot up with a loud "WHAT?!"

"What the hell do you mean it's sailing by itself?!" Sanji said as they all rushed to the edge of the water, and watched dumbfounded as their ship was just sailing away.

"Isn't Merry just awesome?" Luffy said in wonder.

"Our ship can't move by itself you idiot!" Zoro raged.

"She's being stolen!" Usopp added.

"WHAT?! STOLEN?!" Luffy suddenly cried out in shock.

"You're so fucking slow!" Lumen shouted in aggravation.

"This is what we have to deal with everyday." Nami said in annoyance as she finished reattaching her top while Luffy wound up his arm.

"Get back here you thief!" he shouted as he stretched his arm out towards the Going Merry, and everyone started to grin… before his arm snapped back just a few inches away from grabbing on to the railing.

"Of course, NOW you can't reach it," Lumen groaned. "Now what do we do?"

* * *

"How long has it been again?" Usopp groaned.

"One whole week." Lumen groaned back.

"I feel antsy without my sword dammit." Zoro muttered.

It had been exactly one week since they had lost Merry, and the crew was currently grouped up together in a tiny little swan boat.

They also had to find some new clothes, but the only thing available on the island they had been resting on was a wedding store, so they had no choice but to get their clothes from there.

Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were stuck wearing priest robes, though Sanji was pissed they didn't have any shoes so he was stuck in sandals, while Lumen and Nami both got saddled with dressing as the groom and the bride.

"If only they had something a bit faster than this little boat," Lumen groaned. That and he wished he'd picked the Shauta Combo as one of his starters (even if it meant he'd have been knocked out cold for a little while). He'd have gotten the Going Merry back by now if he had. However, his train of thought was cut short when they heard cries for help, and saw what appeared to be a kid drowning. "H-Hey! Are you okay?" he asked in worry.

"Hold on kid, we'll help you!" Usopp added as he steered the boat towards the kid. However…

"Thanks for falling for it," the kid grinned, before they found themselves caught in a net, when a mechanism rose out of the water.

"Hey!" What the hell?!" "Who's touching my butt?!" "Sorry!"

"Good work Akisu." a voice said, making them turn to see a man standing on a ship that was moving out from behind the rocks, wearing a long green coat and a pair of goggles.

"Meh, it was a piece of cake big bro." the kid said as he climbed onto the ship. "Idiots like them are easy to trick anyway." he added as he grinned towards the captured pirates.

"Why you little brat!" Usopp shouted in outrage.

"So, we're being mugged then huh?" Lumen mused… before grinning widely "I feel much less sorry about this then." he said as he took out the OOO Driver and strapped it to his waist before pulling out three medals and inserting them, grabbing the scanner and sliding it across "Henshin!" " **TAKA! KAMAKIRI! CHEETAH!"** and with a quick flick of the kamakiri blades, the net was sliced open, the crew landing on the small ship of the would be muggers, who suddenly looked a LOT more worried as they looked at OOO. "Alright, we've just gone through the worst week we've had in a while, and right now we are NOT in the mood for this kind of rubbish, so I DARE you to try anything," OOO said dangerously. "Please do, I'm hankering for some hurting right now."

"S-sorry!" both of them squeaked, before soon going into a crouch and begging for mercy.

"Jeez, you two are as bad as Usopp." Sanji said dryly.

"Yea- Hey wait a minute!" Usopp started to agree before snapping towards Sanji.

"ANY way, who the heck are you guys?" OOO asked.

"Who are we?" the older man said before suddenly getting up and looking proud. "Those sailing the seas in search of a mountain of treasure! We are, the Thief Brothers!" the two of them said in synch and finished with a pose. "Borodo and Akisu!"

"...at least it wasn't the Team Rocket motto," Lumen grumbled as he detransformed.

"They look more like idiots than proper thieves." Zoro said, and suddenly the mountain of loot the two had climbed up on fell down.

"What's all this stuff?" Luffy wondered as he stood up and looked at the treasure boxes. Opening one of them, what he found was...mainly junk.

"...you sure you're thieves or just scavengers?" Lumen deadpanned.

"Hey, don't underestimate us! Big Brother Borodo is gonna steal the Diamond Clock from Clockwork Island and become the greatest thief in the world!" Akisu said.

"You mean the famous Diamond Clock?!" Nami said in surprise and excitement.

"What's that?" Usopp asked.

"Only the finest jewel and greatest artifact ever crafted! It's literally the most valuable clock in the world!" Nami said.

"That's our knowledgeable Nami!" Sanji said with his usual hearts in his eyes.

"I'm guessing stealing it is REALLY hard then," Lumen mused. "So makes sense that stealing it would earn you a title like that."

"So he's just like me then." Luffy said with a grin.

"How am I just like you?" Borodo asked, not liking the idea of being compared to what was obviously an idiot.

"You want to be the greatest thief in the world, and I want to be the greatest pirate in the world, the Pirate King!" Luffy exclaimed.

"P-pirate king… with that dingy thing?!" Borodo asked in shock as he looked at the swan boat.

"Hell no!" Luffy and Usopp said together.

"Our ship got stolen recently," Sanji said with a sigh. At that Borodo seemed to have a look of realization. "Your ship...did it have a straw hat symbol on it?" he asked, looking towards Luffy.

"Yeah, that's the one," Lumen nodded. "Unless there are other pirates who use a straw hat as a symbol anyway."

"Well...that's gonna be a problem. The ones who stole it were the Trump Siblings," Borodo sighed.

"Never heard of them." Zoro said simply.

"Advertising isn't their main thing, strangely enough. Their a group of pirates that have a stronghold on Clockwork Island, using it as a base of operations to terrorize the surrounding area." Borodo explained as he withdrew some wanted posters from his jacket.

The group looked through the posters of the clearly playing card themed group. "They don't look so strong," Zoro and Sanji said at the same time before they soon began arguing over who said it first. Luffy meanwhile seemed to think Bear King was cool, while Nami, Usopp, and Lumen watched them with deadpan expressions.

"What are you so happy about?! They stole your ship!" Borodo said. "You're supposed to be pissed!"

"Eh, we'll just get it back first chance we get, and probably beat up whoever gets in the way," Lumen shrugged, knowing how these kinds of things usually went.

"Borodo, look over there!" Akisu said in alarm, pointing at a direction. The group looked towards it, and blinked in surprise.

"Those are the Trump Siblings!" Borodo said in alarm as they saw the flag… and the fleet of ships… and the bear head figurehead of the main ship...and a naked woman bathing in the figurehead….wait, what was that last one?

"Put some clothes on dammit!" Lumen shouted, averting his eyes, while having a large blush on his face.

"Someone has the proper reaction at least." Nami muttered as she looked at Lumen, before glancing at Sanji who was happily ogling the woman, Usopp was trying not to look by hiding his eyes behind his fingers… but was looking through the cracks… and the rest didn't care it seemed.

"Hm? What do you all want?" the woman asked, not the least bit concerned about her nudity.

"Give us back the ship you stole from us!" Nami demanded.

"Your ship? Never seen it," the woman said, before seemingly noticing Nami...and the smirk she gained wasn't a comforting one.

"What?" Nami asked a little apprehensively. At that point, a pig like person suddenly jumped forward.

"Now then, time for a riddle!" the man said.

"Well this just got a bit weirder," Lumen groaned, still pointedly trying to avoid looking at the naked woman.

"One: Who will become the greatest pirate in the world, the king of pirates?" the man asked.

"Boo Jack, that's way too easy," the woman chuckled.

"That depends on who you're asking," Lumen deadpanned, already having a good idea what the answer was. However…

"Me!" Luffy said simply, to which Lumen sighed, knowing that no doubt the answer Boo Jack had in mind was their own captain.

"Wrong! The answer is our captain, the mighty Bear King!" Boo jack said as if chiding a child, confirming Lumen's thoughts.

"No, you're wrong," Luffy said, clearly not getting it. "I guess it's not common knowledge yet," he shrugged.

"Besides, what kind of riddle is that? That was a flat out question," Sanji sighed.

"Just as I thought, these guys aren't anything special," Zoro snorted.

"Mocking the Trump Pirates, eh?" Boo Jack growled.

"Well then, it seems we'll have to explain it to them, the woman said, before snapping her fingers, and suddenly a veritable army emerged from the ships.

"...where the heck were they hiding?" Lumen deadpanned before strapping on the OOO Driver and inserting the medals. "Henshin!"

" **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"**

"Let's see if you got enough luck to win this." OOO said as he cracked his knuckles and activated the Tora claws.

"And here they come," Sanji said as the pirates poured out of their ship and soon began jumping onto the small boat.

"Hold this for me," Luffy said, putting his hat on Nami's head.

"I'll leave it to you guys," Borodo said before he and Akisu stepped back, while the four of them jumped forward and met the charge head on.

The fight that followed was...okay it was a slaughter. The Trump Pirates had quantity, but the four of them were matching with quality, and before long...the attacking pirates were thrown overboard, or groaning on the ground.

"These guys really are strong!" Borodo couldn't help but grin. However…

"Oh...so they CAN fight," the woman mused, before Boo Jack jumped forward.

"My turn then!" he grinned, before rolling into a ball...with spikes, and proceeded to…

"He knows the Spin Dash?!" OOO demanded when they were forced to avoid getting run over by the spiked ball, which destroyed the main mast of the small ship, before bouncin back up to the bigger ship.

"That's my Boo Jack!" the woman chuckled.

"Well that guy sure is something isn't he?" Sanji scoffed in annoyance.

"Time for my secret technique then!" Usopp said as he quickly grabbed the rudder of the boat "My famous 'Escape is Winning' master plan!" he shouted as he started rowing like a maniac, throwing everyone down as the boat started moving quickly.

"You're running away?!" the others all asked incredulously while the Trump Pirates all stared dumbfounded.

"Why the hell are we running?!" OOO demanded as they all grabbed hold. "They only got ONE shot in! We were literally mowing them down!"

"Because that was scary!" Usopp supplied.

"A LOT of things are scary when you're a pirate, and that didn't stop you from being one!" OOO countered. Before the argument could go further, OOO noticed something fall off the boat, a small box. The moment it did, Akisu gasped, and promptly smashed Usopp in the head to make him stop pedalling like mad. Once the boat stopped, Borodo jumped into the ocean and swam to the object, managing to retrieve it.

"Its safe!" Borodo said, causing Akisu to sigh in relief. However, that was when they heard something in the water, and someone jumped into the air...before several bombs were dropped onto the ship.

"...well fuck," OOO deadpanned, before the ship exploded.

There were shouts and some tossing around, and Luffy almost drowning were it not for Zoro grabbing him in time, as the group held onto the hull of the boat, though…

"Second riddle," Boo Jack, who was floating in the water, said. "What does he want the most?" he asked, and they noticed someone was missing.

"Nami!" Sanji and OOO gasped when they realized it, and true enough, Nami was in the arms of the woman (thankfully clothed now), standing on top of Boo Jack's back.

"Correct, we'll be taking her with us." Boo Jack grinned "She'll make a fine souvenir for our captain."

"It'll be fun to see him do _this_ and _that_ to her." the woman said tauntingly, licking her lips as she pictured… something that was definitely NSFW.

"This and that?" most of the people asked...saved OOO who already knew what they had in mind.

"UNHAND OUR FRIEND YOU SICK SICK BASTARDS!" OOO roared as he jumped onto the wood and used the Batta legs to jump after them.

Boo Jack tossed a bomb at him...only for it to be sliced apart by the Tora claws, and OOO pounced on them. What followed was an almost comical smoke cloud, before Nami came out of it, landing on the wood they'd all clung on, while the woman and Boo Jack went flying away.

"Outta luck you bastards!" OOO shouted at their flying forms, before swimming back towards the wreck as Nami came to from her brief state of unconsciousness.

"The hell just happened?" she asked with a groan as she sat up.

"Newbie just saved your ass from getting raped." Zoro grunted, having gotten the meaning of the words only a second after Lumen.

Nami shivered a bit at the mental image his bluntness brought on, but nodded towards OOO as he grabbed on to the wood, giving him a grateful smile "Thanks Lumen."

"I'd be a bastard if I let that kind of stuff happen to a friend." he said with a shrug and a smile. "Now let's get out of here before they come back. Everyone grab on or get on," he said, before switching to the Cheetah legs. Once everyone was secured (and Luffy got his hat back), he began kicking his legs and they were soon rocketing away like a speed boat. "Where to next?" he shouted over his kicking. "Point the way and I'll get us that way as fast as I can!"

* * *

"You doing ok?" Luffy asked as Lumen was lying down on his back on their makeshift raft, while Borodo was directing them with a wind catcher.

"Yeah, just tired out a bit, two quick henshins like that and using up so much energy with Cheetah is still new to me after all… I'm REALLY not looking forward to using a full combo." Lumen admitted with a sigh as he rested.

"But...are we really getting to Clockwork Island like this?" Zoro asked.

"Be quiet, Borodo is a genius at manipulating and using the wind and waves," Akisu said.

"So once we get to Clockwork Island, what next?" Lumen asked.

"I'm gonna go steal the Diamond Clock," Borodo said proudly. "And since the Trump Pirates are using the island as a base, odds are you will find your ship there."

"Sounds good to me," Nami nodded.

"Though...I'm curious," Usopp started. "What's so important about that music box that you had us stop?"

"This…" Akisu frowned.

"That music box is the only thing Akisu has of his home town," Borodo explained. "I found Akisu drifting at sea while he was a baby. Seems his parents sent him adrift to keep him safe from some pirates, and that music box was all there was in there," he said, before smiling slightly. "Whenever he was upset, that music box always calmed him down and made him happy. It's VERY important to him."

"So you two aren't blood related then?" Luffy mused, before smiling "Kinda reminds me of my own brother." he said with a chuckle.

"You have a brother?" Usopp asked, trying not to shiver as he thought of his idiot captain having family besides the grandfather he mentioned a little while back.

"Yeahp! Me and him drank sake together as kids, so that makes us brothers!" Luffy explained with a grin.

"...not even gonna comment on the problem with that picture," Lumen deadpanned.

"Meh, sake's hard alcohol, but it takes more than a single cup to get a person drunk." Zoro said.

"Yeah, it takes some stronger stuff to knock a kid on their ass in a single drink." Nami agreed.

"I REALLY don't want to know." Lumen said with a twitching eyebrow.

Eventually they approached and reached Clockwork Island…

"...okay, how the hell does that even WORK?" Lumen deadpanned at the sight of the island. It was...a small patch of sand and dirt, with a single stone column...one that stretched up and up and up into the sky and ended in a MASSIVE landmass that was clearly larger than the mass underneath it.

"I… I honestly don't know how this is even POSSIBLE." Nami said incredulously.

"It's like the island decided to bend physics over and make it it's bitch." Lumen added.

"Well… they made this to defend against enemies. If anyone tries to climb the stairs, they'll be killed before they reach the top," Borodo said.

"...REALLY wishing I had the red combo right now," Lumen sighed, knowing that Tajadol would let him fly, backlash be damned. "So I guess we'll have to walk?"

"No, when they come to leave or enter, a secret elevator will open up. If we wait, we should be able to find and-" Borodo started, before realizing that Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were already walking up the stairs. "What the hell are you doing?! Those stairs are dangerous you idiots!"

"We'll just tackle them one at a time," Sanji said almost dismissively.

"They're always like this, aren't they?" Lumen deadpanned.

"Yes…" Nami and Usopp let out long suffering sighs as they were all forced to join the climb.

The first trap they encountered ended up being a classic one, as the stairs flipped down into a ramp, with Lumen grabbing onto the railing and Nami clinging to him to avoid slipping back down.

Then the water came and sent everyone back down a while… then they heard shouts about spikes… and then some boulders came rolling down… and THEN the floor got all broken up and the water just fell through the cracks.

"Well… quick thinking on your part." Nami said as she patted Lumen on the shoulder.

"I almost feel bad for the others though." He said with a sweatdrop.

Eventually the others caught back up with them and the group continued rushing up the stairs, breaking any trap they came across and rising up further on the long tower, taking them at least an hour of running to reach the top.

"Japanese temples...eat your heart out," Lumen groaned as this had to be the largest set of stairs he'd EVER seen. That aside, he finally could see where they'd ended up and… "Huh, this is a pretty nice place…" The island on the top was quite a sight. All the way up in the sky yet it appeared to be a quaint town with hills of green and a large castle up top. "I'm guessing the Trump Siblings are holed up in that castle."

"And there is your ship," Borodo said, as he pointed at the Going Merry which was parked among a bunch of other ships. Of course…

"... how the heck did it even get up here… and how do we get it down for that matter?" Lumen pointed out. "I don't think that secret door they mention could be big enough for a whole ship like some of these…"

"We'll figure it out." Luffy said with a laugh.

"We probably will yeah." Zoro admitted with a nod, before looking at Borodo "Though, how can you see it so well from this distance?"

"Oh? Well, I guess I just have better eyesight." Borodo answered easily, while Zoro continued to look at him for a moment.

"I think he's right though, I can just about make out our mark on the sail." Nami said as she squinted while looking at the top of the tower.

"Yeah, and I think I can see the figurehead." Usopp added.

"And there's the prize you two are after," Lumen noted, seeing the large clock that had clearly been made out of jewels, or rather, Diamond, if the name was literal. "But first things first before we get to the castle and get the ship back…"

"Food! Meat!" Luffy grinned...only to get dope slapped by an irate Lumen.

"No, unlike you, WE actually need a change of clothes," he growled.

* * *

"Sorry about heaping the bill on you, Borodo. We'll be sure to pay you back," Lumen said as they walked out with a new set of clothes. He was wearing black pants, along with a checkered green and yellow button up shirt that was left open, over a red t-shirt that had a hawk printed on it (a lucky find for him honestly) and he still has his sandals in his feet.

Sanji was wearing a sea green shirt, kept buttoned up, over a simple grey t-shirt, wearing dark purple pants and some somewhat cheap looking brown steel toed boots, though he didn't expect them to last too long personally.

Nami was wearing a simple white shirt with the word GOLD written on it in, well, gold, and some dark red pants with simple heeled sandals, nothing too high though so she could still run… she may also have discreetly stolen a broom and broken off the head to get a makeshift bo staff.

Zoro was one of the luckier ones of the group, still having his pants and own shoes at least, though he was now wearing an open navy blue jacket with a white scarf just hanging off his neck, exposing the scar on his chest.

And finally, Usopp was wearing a simple orange jacket with greyish green slacks, having a bought a cheap slingshot and some makeshift ammo for now so he'd at least be able to do SOMETHING.

"Like hell we're gonna use our treasure for that!" Nami objected.

"Then use the money we got from selling MY minerals!" Lumen shot back. "We're having Borodo pay for these, so it's only right we pay him back, and seeing as I'm the one who showed you where the minerals are, that money technically belongs to me, so I say we use it to pay him back."

Nami stared at him for a long moment, narrowing her eyes, before clicking her teeth "Dammit, fine. You weren't TECHNICALLY an official crew member when you showed it to us since we'd only just met… but any money you personally find, I want AT LEAST a 30% cut of from now on, alright!?" she told him.

"Fair enough." Lumen said with a nod, and the two shook on it.

"Anyways, next we'll have to go to the castle one way or another but…" he trailed off, looking at their crew. "Question is, how?" he sighed. "Also, has anyone seen Luffy?"

The group all looked to where Luffy had been a few seconds ago. Unsurprisingly he was gone. "...of course," they all deadpanned.

The group went looking for their wayward captain, and found him looking at a home with a variety of clockwork toys in the window. "Hey guys, clockwork island is really fun!" Luffy grinned, as he opened the door to look inside.

"Only strangers would say that," came a voice from inside the house, the group walking in to see what appeared to be a couple sitting on the second floor, while Lumen was smacking Luffy in the background, berating him for just barging into someone's home.

The couple appeared to be researchers, or maybe doctors, judging by the lab coats, both of them had hair shaped like a corkscrew, the woman having lavender hair, and a pair of glasses, while the man had brown hair and a goatee.

"I'm guessing this is due to the Trump Pirates that are in the castle?" Nami guessed.

The couple nodded sadly. "Ever since the Trump Pirates took over, this island hasn't been the same," the woman nodded.

"They've forced our people to make them their weapons of mass destruction, while holding the entire island hostage," the man continued.

"How can they take an entire island hostage?" Lumen blinked.

"The castle they're in is the site of the main key of the island. If that's destroyed, the whole Island will fall and take everyone with it," the woman sighed, before wistfully looking towards a picture.

"Hey, that's the Diamond Clock!" Akisu said, seeing where she was looking.

"Yes, we built it to commemorate the birth of our son. The whole island praised us for our work." the man said with a forlorn sigh.

"So you made it yourselves then?" Zoro mused, glancing back at all the various toys and knick-knacks in the window "Well, I can see where you got the skill."

"Yes, however… ever since the Trump Pirates settled onto this island years ago, we've been living through hell every day." the woman said somberly "Now we only make tools for killing, and if we rebel, Bear King will destroy the island."

"That's… that's just so cruel!" Akisu said in anger.

"The kind of shit that makes your blood boil." Lumen added with a growl, while Nami had a sympathetic look towards the couple.

"Don't worry, these guys are strong. I'm sure they can help with the pirate problem," Borodo said, to which Zoro gave him a suspicious look.

"Heh, you just want the Trump Pirates gone so you can help yourself to the Diamond Clock," Usopp said with a knowing smirk.

"Eh? You want to steal the Diamond Clock?" the man blinked.

"Yeah? What of it? Borodo is gonna steal the clock and become the King of Thieves!" Akisu said.

"Well if you can, then go ahead," the woman sighed. "That clock is just full of painful reminders for us now…"

"Though, anyone who's ever tried to steal it has been met with death." the man added gravely.

"Well, that's because none of them were Borodo, he's gonna be the greatest thief in the world." Akisu said matter of factly.

"You just don't understand how terrible the Trump Pirates are, so please, if you want to live, just leave this island." the woman said sadly.

"Well, that's a problem right there, because we can't just leave." Sanji said as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"We have… a conflict of interest with the Trump Pirates, you could say." Lumen added.

"If you do that, you'll die! Death creates no futures for you!" the woman begged.

"But if you don't stake your life on something, you can't create any future," Luffy suddenly said, his expression in a rare show of seriousness, catching everyone's attention, before he grinned. "Right?"

"Couldn't agree more, captain," Lumen smirked, something shared by all of them.

"Let's go!" Luffy said as he burst out the door and they were soon on their way to the castle.

"Hey, wait for us!" Akisu said as he ran out after them and tripped, Borodo running out and lifting him up.

"Let's not waste time!" he said, with Akisu nodding and following after him.

"Wait!" the women tried to call out to them as she ran out, before her eyes fell the ground.

"This…" she said softly, her eyes widening as she picked up Akisu's music box.

* * *

"Yahooo!" Luffy grinned as they were currently all standing inside what could be best described as a hot air balloon basket, albeit missing the hot air balloon. Instead they were using a parachute of sorts to catch the wind, and once again Borodo was 'driving' so to speak.

"Sweet! We've got a bird's eye view of the place!" Usopp grinned as they were ascending at a controlled pace, headed towards Trump Castle.

"Don't get too carried away! There's a field of landmines under there, so if we fall, we're finished!" Borodo warned them, causing the more...sane...members to avoid hanging over the edge. However, Luffy kept looking down and noticed something.

"Hey, those windmills," he said, taking out the wind-up windmill toy he'd gotten his hands on earlier. "They look just like this thing," he commented.

"Well, you did find it on a beach. Maybe it came from here," Nami suggested, earning a small nod from Luffy, before he tried to turn the key...but it wouldn't budge.

"Huh? Is it broken?" he said as he kept trying to turn it.

"Let me have a look." Akisu said and Luffy handed it over to him, Akisu also trying to turn the key, seeing it was stuck, and taking out a screwdriver from his pocket and starting to loosen a few pieces, removing the top and then taking out more screwdrivers as he went to work on the toy.

"Woah, you're pretty slick." Usopp said with a grin.

"Akisu's always had a way with machinery, he's never even had to practice." Borodo said proudly.

Akisu continued to work on the toy, before putting it back together and winding up the key, the blades of the windmill turning mechanically.

"Awesome! You fixed it!" Luffy and Usopp cheered together, while Akisu grinned a bit.

"Oh my, so you're all still alive. A pitty," came a familiar voice. It echoed a bit, but it was unmistakable as to who it belonged to. The group looked around for the voice, before from a pipe, a mass of some kind of substance burst out, it was somewhat liquid in nature, and quickly solidified into a familiar form, the form of the woman from before, Honey Queen. Oh, and she was naked again.

"Again with the streaking?!" Lumen groaned in annoyance, looking away, while Sanji had to be held back before he fell off the basket.

"Well she ain't a normal human!" Zoro growled.

"She's a Devil Fruit user like Luffy!" Nami said in alarm.

"Bingo! Correct!" came Boo Jack's voice as he rode in on a unicycle and tossed some clothes which Honey Queen quickly slipped into.

"That's right, it's the Jelly-Jelly Fruit to be precise," she said as she was fully dressed again. "Boo Jack, reward them."

At that, Boo Jack jumped up off of a nearby windmill and was soon near the balloon basket.

"Yes! Reward me!" Sanji said, before getting serious "Like hell." he said as he jumped off the basket.

Boo Jack grinned, before tossing a ball towards Sanji, who scoffed and prepared to kick it back, only raising an eyebrow and readjusting his foot slightly when he saw spikes come out of it, using the tip of the steel toed boot to send it flying back right into Boo Jack's face. Boo Jack barely had time to be surprised before the spikes hit him, knocking him out of the air...and right down into the minefield. Unsurprisingly that ended with a 'Boom!'.

"Is it just me, or is there something strangely comedic about someone being beaten by their own minefield?" Lumen couldn't help but ask with a chuckle.

"Sweet catharsis and all that yeah." Usopp said with a grin.

"Especially when the someone in question is a moron." Zoro added with a smirk.

"Not bad, but your guard is down!" Honey Queen said as she jumped upward, her arms shifting to liquid and she looked ready to strike.

Lumen gasped and quickly inserted a new medal into the head section, having kept the driver and base medals on him in case he needed a quick change, and scanned it, forgoing even the 'Henshin'. " **LION! TORA! BATTA!"** "Liodias!" he shouted as his helmet started to shine.

Honey Queen threw her arms forward, but before she could release a torrent of jelly, she was hit face first with a blinding blast. The light hurt her eyes, while she felt the liquid her body turned into start to boil, causing her to shout in pain as she retracted her body...and soon realized she'd lost momentum...after the pinwheels stopped appearing in her eyes and by then...she was already almost at the ground. "Bas-!" she barely managed to say before she was hit with an exploding mine.

"Zoro was right, these guys ARE idiots," OOO deadpanned.

"Yeah, total idiots." Luffy nodded.

"Nothing else needs to be said." Nami deadpanned, because if even Luffy called someone an idiot… well, it wasn't fun to be called an idiot by HIM.

* * *

Not long after, Trump Castle…

"What the heck happened to you two?" the large nosed man in an aviator-esque outfit, Skunk One, asked in bewilderment as Honey Queen and Boo Jack came back...looking like they'd taken a jog through the minefield, something he voiced.

"Maybe because we DID just go through one, though not by choice," Honey Queen fumed. "Those kids are stronger than we thought."

"But we won't underestimate them next time!" Boo Jack added.

"See to it that you don't," the large man, Bear King, said with a frown. "Our moment of triumph is upon us as soon the King Cannon will be complete, and when it is, a new era may begin! One where I rule the seas as Pirate King!"

However, just as he said that, the castle shook. "What was that?!" he demanded.

One of their men came up, dressed like any other of their grunts, though the most notable feature was his slicked back brown hair. "Intruders! Intruders are attacking the castle!" he reported.

"What?!" Bear King growled as the Trump Siblings moved to see over the balcony...and soon saw the Straw Hats storming the castle entrance. "They're proving to be quite the nuisance…" he growled, before he gasped a bit.

"Huh? Is something wrong?" the lanky and thin man, Pin Joker, asked.

"N-No. It's nothing," Bear King shook his head, wondering where the heck that came from, none of them noticing something crawling through a way down the floors.

"Somebody stop this thing!" They all heard Skunk One shout, before he shot up into the air, a trail of gas behind him while he seemed to have something puncturing the gas bag on his back and causing the leak to send him all over the place. As a result, the gas was dropping all over the outside...and inside of the castle, hitting his own allies with it.

They coughed and gagged as the Devil Gas hit them, slowing them down, while outside, OOO had shifted to the Taka head and Cheetah Legs, and attached some of the materials Borodo still had on him, before having Sanji and Zoro hoist him up...and start kicking, creating makeshift fans that blew the gas away, allowing them to continue unimpeded.

"Dammit!" Bear King gasped as the remaining Trump Siblings (Skunk One was still flying uncontrollably in the air) fought to get away from the gas. "They're moving faster than we thought!" Fortunately for him, at that moment a mechanism appeared out of the floor, revealing something large covered in a cloth. "Perfect timing!" he grinned, as he pulled the cloth off to unveil the King Cannon. "Now we can't lose!" he grinned.

Back with the strawhats, the crew, plus Borodo and Akisu were quickly making their way up the castle, things made easier now that Zoro had… 'borrowed' a trio of swords from some of the grunts they encountered.

"These guys are pretty damn weak honestly." Nami grunted as she used her makeshift staff to send a mook tumbling down the stairs.

"You think that's weird? I feel VERY confident right now." Usopp said dryly as he fired pellets at the grunts, adding in some throwing knives to pin them to the walls by their clothes (Lumen showed him how to hold a throwing knife, and knowing that, it just gave him more arsenal to use).

"I don't think they looked hard for these guys honestly." OOO, currently in Kuwagata, Tora, Cheetah configuration, commented as he electrocuted a small group of mooks with the lightning from his horns.

The group kept running through the castle, and before long they reached a room with what appeared to be a large...screw or something, behind glass.

"What's this?" Luffy blinked.

"That's the island's main key. It's what keeps the island in one piece," Borodo explained.

"Well, we'd better hurry then. Before that Bear King guy decides to destroy it to stop us or something," Sanji commented, earning a few nods, but before they could go, Akisu was sent flying after some of the grunts got behind him and hit him in the head.

"Akisu!" Borodo said in alarm before punching the two grunts away...only for a metal door to come down, sealing them into the room.

"...this room was a trap, wasn't it?" OOO deadpanned.

"Looks like it." Nami said with a frown, before they all stumbled slightly as the floor beneath them shifted… and started to rise up, while the roof stayed in place.

"Their trying to crush us dammit!" Sanji gasped in realization before he, Luffy, Zoro and OOO all started using all their strength to hold up the ceiling and floor from squishing them, Borodo giving them a hand once he was sure Akisu was fine, while Usopp and Nami were trying to find a way to stop the mechanism.

"Cheap bastards, trying to kill us this way instead of a straight up fight." Luffy grunted, feeling angry at being cheated out of a possibly good fight. He wasn't a maniac like Zoro, but always liked a good rumble.

"I'm surprised you aren't running though, weren't you just using us to get the Diamond Clock?" Zoro shot at Borodo, his now revealed mechanical left hand hissing and steaming as it tried to fight the pressure.

"That was never my reason." Borodo grunted with a frown, not surprised he was eventually found out "I stole your ship to lure you here, so you'd defeat the Trump Siblings."

"You wanted to overthrow them or something?" OOO asked with a light groan.

"Close. This is Akisu's home island." Borodo answered simply.

"I see, so you wanted to bring him back home to a happy family without a threat looming over them." Sanji understood, frowning a bit, but not really able to say Borodo's idea was stupid.

"Yeah… I wanted to see him finally be truly happy." Borodo said with a smile as he looked at his little brother in all but blood.

"Well, you could have just asked," Luffy said with a grin.

Borodo chuckled at that "Thank you."

"Don't thanks us yet, we still have to figure out how to stop this damn trap." Nami said as she tried using her makeshift staff to stop the mechanism, only for the tip to break up a bit.

"There will be none of that," came another voice as a door opened at the other side of the room, revealing Pin Joker.

"Tch. Are you controlling this trap?" Zoro glared.

"Roronoa Zoro, it has been quite a while," Pin Joker said.

"Huh? You know this guy, Zoro?" Usopp asked.

Zoro looked at Pin Joker for a moment, thinking about it before… "Nope. Not a clue. Who are you again?" he said, causing him to face fault.

"What? You don't remember?! You gave me this scar right here on my face!" Pin Joker roared in anger.

"...nope, doesn't ring any bells," Zoro said. "I don't etch weaklings in my memory."

"Buuurn!" OOO couldn't help but laugh at that one despite the situation.

Pin Joker however didn't take that well. "Then I'll make you feel it! The price for putting your hand in your mouth!"

The group looked at him weirdly and as one said "Don't you mean foot?" everyone (minus Luffy) corrected...at the same time.

Pin Joker lost some of the wind in his sails from the mass correction, but quickly glared. "Silence! Take my special attack!"

"Hold on for a bit guys," Zoro growled.

"Don't take too long!" the others responded, before Zoro let go of bracing the roof, and drew the stolen swords, before dashing forward.

"Needle-Needle Sting!" Pin Joker called out, throwing a barrage of feathers...only for all of them to be deflected when Zoro used the swords to defend against them, and right before Pin Joker could react, he dashed forward more and slashed him, creating several fresh cuts. Pin Joker gasped, and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Awesome! Way to go Zoro! Now we can just use that ele- oh those bastards!" Usopp started to cheer, before the elevator door slammed shut and started to rise up after a few moments.

"Well, looks like we're gonna have to think of something or at least one of us is gonna be a pancake," OOO said.

"Maybe we can break this!" Luffy suggested.

"We'd need more power than…" OOO started, before Luffy started bracing harder, and his strength actually caused the mechanism to groan and a few cracks to form from the rocks. And from one of the cracks, OOO noticed something. "Is that…?!" he gasped. "Borodo, get whatever is in that crack!"

"Alright," Borodo nodded, not fully understanding, but complying. He moved and reached into the crack, and with a bit of effort...pulled out what appeared to be a grey medal with a gold rim, the medal depicting the face of a gorilla.

"Hey, isn't that?!" Nami gasped when she saw it.

"It is! Guys, hold on for a bit longer. We're about to get out of here!" OOO grinned, before he stopped bracing and took the medal from Borodo.

"So this is one of the coins you use in your belt?" Borodo blinked as OOO replaced the medals in the OOO Driver, and scanned it. " **TAKA! GORILLA! BATTA!"**

The head and leg pieces switched out for his basic ones, but his arms were different, with grey colored shoulder pads that were larger than normal, the forearms covered in large grey gauntlets, while his chest depicted the face of a gorilla in the middle section.

"Alright, everybody be ready, we're heading on up." OOO said as he cracked his knuckles before winding up his fist.

* * *

"That bastard." Pin Joker groaned as he got up, clutching at his bandaged wounds.

"Those damn brats just keep stopping us all the fucking time!" Honey Queen hissed in anger.

"They just keep getting lucky is all! Now their in that trap, and they have no way of escaping alive!" Boo Jack said with a grin, picturing the strawhats getting squished to death.

"But what if they make it out?" Skunk one asked nervously.

"They won't." Bear King said surely "And even if they do, we still have the King Cannon."

The others all nodded at that, calming down a bit "You're right, of course, I mean, what are the odds they have someone strong enough to hold up the ceiling for that long, right?" Honey Queen asked with a laugh.

Oh she would regret those words. True enough, exactly 2 seconds after she said that, the floor suddenly rose up a bit...and promptly exploded upward as the entire press system and several floors was blown upward, causing their balcony room to explode, and causing several ships up above to teeter around.

The expressions of the Trump Pirates could be best described as a mix of angry, incredulous, and downright about to shit their pants.

"Knock knock!" OOO grinned as he and the Straw Hats climbed out of the hole they'd just made. "Special delivery for the Trump Siblings. One knuckle pizza with an extra side of butt kicking."

"Why won't you all just die?!" Honey Queen asked in anger.

"I dunno, maybe cause we just don't like people like you," Nami shot back. These guys really were the types of pirates she hated. The type who did as they pleased without giving a damn about who they hurt in the process.

"What do you want?!" Bear King growled.

"What we want is you all off this island, never to come back!" Borodo glared at them.

"Not happening!" Bear King said dangerously, as the Trump Siblings stood together.

"The pig is mine," Sanji smirked.

"Fine by me, I'll deal with the clown," Zoro added.

"I'll take the streaker. Lumen, care to help me?" Nami said.

"Not a problem," OOO nodded.

"Dibs on the big guy!" Luffy grinned.

"Well, guess that leaves me with the stink guy," Usopp shrugged.

"I'll deal with that thing behind them." Borodo said lowly so only the Strawhats heard him.

"Kill them!" Bear King roared as the Trump Siblings charged forward, and soon the fight was on. Each Straw Hat went for their respective enemy, keeping them busy while Borodo and Akisu snuck around the chaos.

During the fight, the first thing Usopp did after catching Skunk One's attention was to maneuver to the balcony...and soon scrambled up the side to reach the ships up top, Skunk One giving chase, quite intent on paying him back for the earlier dagger. However, Usopp moved faster and managed to get on the Going Merry quickly, and when Skunk One pursued… "Egg Star!" Usopp called out as he hit Skunk One in the face with a rotten egg.

"Gah! A rotten egg! I hate things that stink!" Skunk One shouted.

"You don't get to say stuff like that," Usopp deadpanned, before grabbing Zoro's katana, along with Nami's staff and Sanji's shoes and tossed them overboard, calling out to his friends.

Down below, Nami saw the falling objects and the shout, before quickly catching the stuff, and with a shout, tossed them to their respective owners.

"About damn time!" Zoro grinned as he got the Wado back, and with a quick slash, caught Pin Joker in the arm, before slashing him at the chest, causing him to fall over from the strike, once again unconscious.

"These were a decent substitute, but nothing like my own shoes," Sanji grinned as he replaced the current shoes he was using with his own...and promptly played soccer with Boo Jack, using him, in his spike armor, as a ball.

"This one...doesn't help much…" Nami sighed as her staff went through Honey Queen...before OOO switched to the Lion Medal and bombarded her with a blast of heat and light again.

"Dammit!" Honey Queen grit her teeth… before she saw Skunk One hit the ground of the Balcony, singed and unconscious… and she made her decision. "This is bad… later!" she said before she turned into her liquid form, dropping her clothes again and flowing into the pipes, making her escape.

"She got away," OOO frowned.

"But we got pretty much everyone else," Usopp said as he got down again, before they all focused on Luffy… who was having a bit of a harder time against Bear King.

"You can't hurt me! My Hard-Hard Fruit makes me impossible to hurt!" he laughed.

"Tough talk from the guy who just lost all his allies," Zoro said with a smirk.

"Doesn't matter, I'll take you ALL on!" he grinned.

"Oh shit!" everyone heard, making the fighting stop as they turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Borodo backing up from the cannon, which had the tarp pulled off to reveal it, and gnawing on the cannon was…

"A Yummy!" OOO gasped as he saw the white, mummy like being.

"What's yummy? Where's the food?" Luffy asked while looking around everywhere.

OOO gave his captain a long look at that "No Luffy, that mummy thing over there, it's called a Yummy."

Luffy looked at the mummy for a long moment "That's a stupid name."

"No arguments here," OOO deadpanned. "But still… what's a Yummy doing here?" he frowned, worried that if a Yummy was here… did that mean Greeed were around? Judging by what he was seeing, then it was likely made by Uva. As if to confirm his thoughts the Yummy suddenly looked a bit bloated, before it seemed to molt, revealing a new form underneath. It looked like a sickly green human/praying mantis hybrid, with blades attached to the knuckles of its hands. "Kamakiri Yummy… that clinches it, Uva is around here." OOO said with a frown as he looked at his opponent.

"All of you… you have such wonderful desires… I'll drag you to the master… let him create more of my kind from you…" the Yummy hissed as it looked over the crew slowly, before his eyes fell on OOO "OOO… you persist in existing." it hissed in anger.

"Oi! What the hell do you want you stupid bug?!" Bear King demanded angrily as he stomped up to the Yummy.

"Destruction… just like you…" the Yummy hissed, making Bear King pause in his tracks, before he was suddenly flung out of the room and onto the balcony by the Yummy.

"Luffy, go deal with the fat idiot, I'll handle this thing." OOO told his captain.

"Got it, be careful though, it looks strong." Luffy said, before rushing out to the balcony to attack Bear King before he could get up.

"Want a hand with it?" Sanji asked.

"Naw, I'll be fine, you go help out Luffy, he'll probably need help with the big idiot." OOO told him, receiving a nod from the others as they went to help their captain.

"Standing alone… it will be your downfall…" the Yummy hissed out.

"So says the lonely bug." OOO shot back as he switched out his medals " **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"** and he was back in his base form, the Tora claws flipped out quickly. "Let's see how lucky you are!"

 **(Play: Regret Nothing ~Tighten Up~)**

The two fighters charged forward, the Yummy's blades meeting the Tora claws in a shower of sparks as the two fought. Catching the blades again, the two were soon in a deadlock, before OOO kicked the Yummy in the waist, sending it stumbling back, before slashing it with the Tora claws, causing Cell Medals to fly through the air from where they were dislodged, and when the Yummy tried to retaliate, OOO quickly used the Batta legs to jump over the attack, and land a strong kick on the Yummy's back, sending it tumbling forward.

"Hold still!" the Yummy growled as its blades flashed and it threw a pair of energy blades forward, hitting OOO, causing him to skid back. The Yummy soon took the small advantage it had, but OOO quickly recovered and blocked with his claws, and kicked it back again, before stabbing it in the chest with his claws, causing it to tumble back.

"Game over," OOO said as he pulled out the scanner and ran it through. " **SCANNING CHARGE!"** OOO's legs became like that of a grasshopper, before he jumped upward, his Taka eyes now seeing the world in slow motion, before he soon came down, going through three rings or energy, each generating an aura, first red wings, then large yellow claws, and finally large green grasshopper legs, calling out "Tatoba Kick!" right as he crashed into the Yummy, the three rings of OOO appearing for a moment before the Yummy exploded into a shower of Cell Medals "You're out of luck."

 **(End song)**

OOO stood, the claws receding and his legs returning to normal, as he grabbed one of the Cell Medals out of the air, looking at it, before looking out the window "I think everything just get a hell of a lot more complicated." he mused, before turning to look at the other fight… and saw Luffy stretching his arm back while it was wound up tight, looking like it was gonna hurt like hell.

"Gum-Gum Rifle!" Luffy shouted as he sent his fist straight into Bear King's gut, sending the man flying into his cannon.

"D-Dammit." the man grunted, before climbing into the seat of his cannon "I'll show you not to mess with me!"

"Shut up!" Luffy shouted as he jumped up and stretched his leg upwards through the roof while Bear King primed his cannon "Gum-Gum Axe!" he called as he brought his leg back down, right on the cannon… and bent the muzzle, putting it at an odd angle.

Bear King stared at his cannon for a moment, and swallowed heavily as he couldn't stop the firing mechanism anymore "Oh no." he said, and suddenly the cannon exploded, the floor crumbling beneath it as he fell down with it down the shaft in the middle of the castle.

"Well...that's that I guess," OOO blinked...right before an explosion occured where Bear King fell. "...that doesn't bode well…"

The tremors could be felt all through the island, even all the way into town as the people looked at the castle which had several explosions, while the key had been damaged in the explosion and was soon falling over.

"Huh? Why is everything shaking?" Luffy asked.

"I think that last explosion damaged the main key," Nami gulped.

"You mean the key that's holding the entire island up?!" Usopp panicked.

"We'd better get out of here then," Sanji said. However before they could make any moves a sound filled the air. A beautiful chiming sound, drawing everyone's attention to the Diamond Clock.

"It's... chiming?" OOO said, and it was a beautiful sound.

"Hey... isn't that the same song as Akisu's music box?" Usopp pointed out.

"It is... then... could it be…? Were those two…?" Akisu gasped, realizing the implications. That the two who'd made that clock...were his parents. However...the beautiful song didn't last, as it soon stopped and the island began to crumble.

"Well, that's our cue to leave!" OOO quickly said. "Let's go!"

The crew quickly climbed up to the top of the castle to get to the Merry, while Akisu grabbed onto Borodo and the two parachuted down, the strawhats pulling a similar maneuver as they grabbed a large tarp and attached it to the railing of Going Merry, letting the wind catch in and slow their descent.

OOO breathed out in relief as he undid his transformation, glancing back at the bag of Cell Medals he had quickly gathered up "Well… I got a good haul… but still, if that Yummy was here, than Uva passed through, and if he's here… I'll have to worry about Kazari, Mezool, Gamel, and possibly even Giru… but… worst of all… I'll have to fight Ankh." he said with a sigh.

"What even happened back there with that… Yummy thing though?" Sanji asked as he came up next to him.

"A monster that feeds on the desire of the one it was spawned from, quite obviously, it was made from Bear King, as it wanted nothing more than to destroy and rampage. The more it feeds, the stronger, and more filled it becomes." Lumen explained.

"Filled? You mean like, it actually LITERALLY feeds on desire?" Sanji asked with a blink.

Lumen smiled tightly "It's a bit more complicated than that. Don't worry, I'll explain later." he said, and Sanji nodded in acceptance. "Now then...what happens now? The Trump Siblings are gone, but the island is in pieces…" he sighed as they soon landed on the ocean.

"Well… I honestly don't know. Originally I had hoped that once the Trump Siblings were gone, Akisu and his people could live in peace on their island but…" Borodo sighed as he and Akisu landed on the ship.

"Well, from the looks of it, at least the people got away," Zoro said, pointing at several ships that were not too far away.

"We'd better talk to them about this. We kinda owe them for destroying the island…" Sanji sighed.

When they reached the ships that held the former inhabitants of the island, they were expecting some less than kind words, but what they got...

"Don't worry," Akisu's mother said. "We can always build a new island. Perhaps it's better this way. That island was full of painful memories."

"Thank you for freeing us from the Trump Siblings," Akisu's father said. "Now we can finally live in peace.

"Yeah, this is the future we opened by staking our lives," Akisu grinned up at Borodo who smiled back, before nudging him towards his parents.

"Go ahead," he said with a knowing smile.

"Um… right." Akisu nodded after a moment, shuffling his feet awkwardly, before he moved over to the other ship "So, um… you're my mom… right?" he asked the lavender haired woman.

She smiled at him "Well, if you figured that out as well, then I suppose I am."

Akisu chuckled a bit "So… uh… I don't really know how this is supposed to work." he admitted.

His mother simply smiled, before pulling him into a hug, while his father patted his head "I think this is a good start, wouldn't you?"

Akisu nodded after a moment, returning the hug "Y-yeah… it is."

As the whole exchange was happening, the Straw Hats watched with smiles on their faces Maybe this wasn't a perfect win, but it was still a good one.

* * *

 **Ta-Da!**

 **Pretty interesting chapter right?**

 **So, yeah, first, Gorilla Medal Get!**

 **Second, unlike the movie, the Strawhats were a hell of a lot more prepared for the Trump Pirates.**

 **Third, Honey Queen escaped yes.**

 **What does this mean?**

 **You'll see eventually.**

 **Fourth... yeah... a Yummy... Lumen's life just got a hell of a lot more complicated, since he knows the Greeed are around.**

 **This high seas adventure is going to be more hectic than it should.**


	4. Chapter 3

**And here's another chapter!**

 **We were at this one for a while longer than I expected.**

 **Now, this one has a few surprises in it that you'll find interesting.**

 **Also, Phoenix wanted me to talk about the Academy he made on RWBY Amity Arena, Terminal Academy, it's an invite only Academy, so if any of you want to join it, go send him a PM to let him know, I came up with the name for it by the way.**

 **Also, before I forget, and because some people even ask with the most obvious songs, the intro is Anything Goes.**

* * *

"So...what's the deal with those coins anyway?" Nami asked. Currently it had been a few days since their adventure on Clockwork Island, and they were well on course to Loguetown after leaving Borodo and Akisu behind to help sort out everything in case Marines showed up since an island being destroyed was a rather big thing. During the time, Lumen had stashed the bag of weird medals/coins he'd somehow gotten his hands on, and seemed quite intent on keeping everyone away from them.

"They're not coins. Well...they are, but they're called Cell Medals," Lumen sighed. "As for what they are and why I'm hell bent on keeping them away from everyone...they're basically the Yummy's body."

Usopp who'd happened to be taking a drink nearby did a spit take when he heard that. "I'm sorry, I had to have heard that wrong. You saying that's a monster corpse we're lugging around?"

"Well… technically speaking yeah." Lumen admitted "See, Yummy are basically piggy banks, trying to fill themselves up as much as possible with Cell Medals by fueling the desire that birthed them."

"Ok… and how IS a Yummy born exactly?" Nami asked.

Lumen grimaced "That's… another can of worms entirely." he admitted.

"How bad are we talking here?" Usopp asked with a worried frown.

Lumen sighed "Another kind of monster… the Greeed. Created by the greatest alchemic masters that worked for the Multi King."

"Huh, funny you'd mention that. Didn't you say those Core Medals were also made by those alchemists," Sanji, who'd happened to be nearby chimed in.

"Yeah….about that…" Lumen sighed. "The Core Medals and the Greeed are...basically the same thing."

There was a long silence as the three regarded him with wide eyes, before Nami broke it "Wait, so… the Core Medals are corpses of the Greeed then?"

"Not exactly. With the Greeed, it's more like… I guess it would be like their soul or their heart, and not having all of the medals makes them incomplete." Lumen tried to explain as best he can. "The Core Medals belong in a set of 9, 3 of each type of medal based on colors. When a Greeed gets all 9 of them, they gain their full power which… let's just say if one showed up now, we'd be dead. Dead as dead can be," he sighed. "The Multi King however wanted to harness these powers for himself when he realized what they could do and well…" he pulled out the OOO Driver.

"He made that thing so he could use the power of the Core Medals," they all realized, earning a small nod from Lumen.

"Don't worry though, from what I can tell, the medals I have aren't any 'heart' Cores as far as I can tell. Those are Core Medals that hold the consciousness of a Greeed, and is basically their hearts that they NEED," Lumen explained.

"That's a relief at least," Sanji sighed. "So...if they're so dangerous together, why not just toss them overboard?"

"You mean the cells?" Lumen asked, and Sanji nodded "No need, in their current state, they don't pose much of a threat, and could actually be useful."

"In what way?" Usopp asked.

"Well… ok, don't freak out about this, but, if I take one and break it in half, I can use those two halves to make some Trash Yummies, basically goons or mooks to fight on our side, they don't have a lot of energy, nor many brains, but their good for a distraction, and with enough numbers, they can possibly overwhelm someone." Lumen explained "There's also the possibility of using them in some specific weapons, but one of them I'd have to make first, and the other… let's just say the other is a headache and a half to find."

"Why would you have to make one?" Nami asked after getting over the fact he could create mooks for them, and realising that in some situations, it COULD be helpful to have some distractions.

"The Multi King apparently had a sword that was capable of harnessing power from Cell Medals, but it was broken from what the scriptures said, it was destroyed, so I'd have to recreate it outright." he answered.

"Why do I get the sinking suspicion I'm not going to like what that sword can do?" Usopp deadpanned.

"Oh don't worry, it only cuts through space itself then resets everything that wasn't the target," Lumen said innocently.

Usopp's face was a dry as a desert at that "You really know how to prove someone right don't you?"

"Would you rather I tell you that when we see it happen first hand?" Lumen countered.

"...fair point," Usopp begrudgingly conceded.

"On a lighter note, how far are we from Loguetown?" Lumen asked.

"About an hour or two at most. We'll have to be careful though, because of how close it is to the Grand Line, the Marine presence is a bit stronger there." Nami explained.

"Right, so we can't just lay anchor at the docks, we'll have to find another spot." Sanji added.

"Okay...where would we find that?" Lumen blinked. "My dad may have been a Marine, but I never really had much interest in the job myself, so I only know the basics of sailing."

"We'll probably have to sail around the coast from a distance to find a good spot, for now, let's decide what we need in Loguetown before arriving there." Nami suggested and they nodded.

"I need swords!" Zoro shouted from where he was… doing ab crunches… while suspended from the crow's nest… sheesh, talk about dedication.

"We know!" the four in a conversation shouted back at him.

"Ignoring the moss head." Sanji said, earning an indignant shout from Zoro "Some of us probably need some changes of clothes, Lumen most of all, the only thing you have is the clothes we found you in, and what Borodo bought for us the other day."

"Yeah, I mean, this shirt and button-up are cool, but I don't want to wear the same thing everyday." Lumen said as he glanced down at said pieces of clothing he was wearing.

"Hopefully you don't just buy multiples of the same thing, like some people." Nami said, looking at Usopp dryly.

"Hey! These suspenders were on sale alright?! Besides, it's my favorite color." Usopp shot back in irritation as he snapped one of the straps of his suspenders.

"Moving on." Sanji said "We need a lock for the fridge so Luffy stops getting in and raiding it every damn time."

"Yeah… where the heck does he even pack it all?" Lumen groaned… before realizing what he'd said. "No, never mind. I don't think I WANT to know."

"Neither do we." Nami said with a sigh "So, besides that, we need plenty of food, probably restock on a few other things as well. Usopp, think you can handle the ammunition side of things?"

"Can do. Besides that I'll probably be checking the junk shops for the most part, you'd be surprise at the stuff you can find that'll make good ammo. Oh! That reminds me! Hey, Sanji, can you buy some eggs that are past expiration date?" Usopp agreed before turning to Sanji.

"You and your freaky food ammo." Sanji sighed "Fine, fine, I'll try to remember."

"Anything else that would be important?" Lumen asked.

Nami tapped her chin in thought "Probably some map paper and a few replacement tools for me, besides that, I guess if you find anything that might be important, go ahead and buy it."

"Oh! That reminds me! We need a Log Pose too," Lumen said, remembering a VERY important item in One Piece.

"Log Pose?" Nami blinked.

"I heard it from dad once. Apparently in the Grand Line, stuff doesn't work like normal, so you need this thing called a Log Pose to be able to navigate through it," Lumen said.

"Right, well, I'll ask around for one then." Nami sighed, before giving him a grateful smile "Thanks for bringing that up."

"I'm a member of this crew, aren't I?" Lumen shot back with a chuckle.

* * *

 _You count the medals! 1, 2, and 3! Life goes on! Anything goes! Coming up OOO!_

The scene freezes before the Taka, Tora, and Batta medals are flicked into the scene, followed by shots of OOO's armor parts cycling through its variants, before finally showing OOO in a ready stance as the crest on his chest appears behind him.

 _*Music*_

The scene changes to show Lumen flip a Taka Medal through the air, before the scene shifts to show OOO in Tatoba form leaping through the air and landing upon the look out of the Going Merry, while the rest of the Straw Hats are on on the deck, before the Going Merry sails off into the sea and the title appears.

 _Iranai motanai yume mo minai Free na joutai sore mo ii kedo_

The medals fly through the screen before revealing a shot of Lumen sitting by a beach, followed by shots of Luffy sitting on the Merry's figurehead, Nami looking over a sea map, Zoro doing push ups with weights, Sanji cooking in the kitchen, and Usopp fiddling with some stuff to make new ammo.

 _Koko kara hajimaru what you've been waiting for? Count the medals...one, two, and three!_

The scene changes to show the group on the Going Merry, grins all around as in waters around them all manner of odd creatures and even a few random ships can be seen, before the scene shows Lumen flipping Core Medals, the Taka, Tora, and Batta medals landing in a group.

 _Unmei mo kimi hotokanai Kekyoku wa susumu shika nai_

The scene changes to show scenes of various different islands as the Straw Hats and Lumen find various different medals one by one, from various spots like in the trees, hidden in rocks, even dropped by an animal.

 _Michinaru tenkai give me energy Count the medals...one, two, and three!_

The scene changes to show a map of the world, as medals drop all over the map, ending with Lumen holding the Taka Medal, then the Tora Medal, and then the Batta Medal, before he grasps all three in his hand.

 _Daijoubu! Ashita wa itsudatte blank_

A shot of several cloths, colored green, yellow, gray, blue, and red respectively are seen strewn about on a beach as Uva, Kazari, Gamel, Mezool, and Ankh are seen in their complete forms, looking like they're lazing around, seemingly enjoying the weather. The scene then changes to show Lumen trying to stack a pile of cell medals before a tremor causes the whole thing to topple over.

 _Jibun no kachi wa jibun dake kimeru mono sa_

Rushing out on deck, the cause of the tremor is revealed to be a small army of ships that seemed to carry a mix of Marines and Pirates, yet at the sight the Straw Hats look at each other reassuringly as they gear up for battle, ending with Lumen scanning his Driver with a shout of 'Henshin!'.

 _OOO! OOO! OOO! OOO! Come on!_

The scene changes to show quick shots of Luffy bursting through lines of enemies, followed by Zoro cutting several of them down to size, Sanji blowing his way through with a barrage of kicks, Nami knocking several away with her staff, Usopp catching several in the head with his slingshot projectiles, ending with OOO who reaches upward as an explosion of Cell Medals erupts from the ground.

 _ANYTHING GOES sonna kokoro ga atsuku naru mono Mitasareru mono mo sagashite_

The scene changes to show a OOO riding on a Ride Vendor through a city, before the scene suddenly changes to show Lumen grasping the Core Medals as behind him is the image of the World Government flag on fire with faded images of various known inheritors of the Will of D, the scene soon shifting to show the flag of the Marines, followed by an image of Akira looking to the right with a smile, Smoker and Tashigi looking to the left with neutral expressions, and Lumen's father looking forward with a slight frown.

 _LIFE GOES ON honki dashite tatakau no nara_

The scene changes to show OOO activating the Tora Claws and jumps forward with the Batta Legs, followed by a scene of OOO on the Ride Vendor riding up a ramp made of Tako Candroids, and launching to the sky where an army of Taka Candroids flies alongside him, while the Going Merry is seen sailing underneath, keeping up pace.

 _Makeru ki shinai hazu_

The scene changes to show the Greeed walking forward from behind their cloths, standing together in a rather menacing fashion, before the scene shifts to show the final scene of OOO standing alongside the Straw Hat Pirates, the Medajalibur in hand and loaded for a Triple Scanning Charge as he cuts across the scene, causing Medals to fly, while the three King Combo Core Medals overlap one final time.

* * *

"Whoo-hoo! What a bustling town!" Luffy said with a big grin.

"Considering this is supposed to be the last island before the Grand Line, it fits," Lumen mused. "Still, we'd better be careful. You did say that this place is where all pirates stop to prepare before entering the Grand Line, right Nami?"

"Yep. You can get pretty much anything here," Nami nodded.

"Alright! For my upcoming great adventure, I'm gonna need some cool stuff!" Usopp grinned.

"I'll bet there's lots of good food to check out here. I'll be sure to stock up on our supplies," Sanji said, before adding, "And a lot of good women too." with a small heart flying out. How Lumen saw that, he decided not to question it.

"I need to find some new swords," Zoro said simply.

"I can lend you some money if you want, but you'll have to return all of it." Nami told him, hiding a grin.

"Sure." Zoro said with a shrug before accepting the money and walking off.

Lumen glanced at the redhead next to him "You're gonna put a massive interest rate aren't you?"

"You know me so well." she said with a grin.

Lumen chuckled "Should I be worried?"

"Naw, clothes are a necessity, so I won't make you worry about that, and you'll get a bit of leeway if you find anything interesting." Nami waved him off.

"Thanks...I think," Lumen blinked, before turning to Luffy. "Got anything you need to get?"

Luffy thought about it and then grinned. "Nah, I'm gonna go check out the execution platform!" Luffy said, much to their surprise, before he soon ran off. "I want to see it, the place where the Pirate King died!" he shouted as he ran off.

"...am I the only one who finds it morbid that he wants to see the place a person died?" Lumen couldn't help but ask.

"I mean… yeah it's kind of morbid… but it also makes sense in a way." Nami said, before shaking it off "Anyway, I'm gonna go get some mapping supplies, maybe a few outfits as well, see you in a few hours."

"Right, so we'll meet back at...I just realized Luffy and Zoro ran off before we decided that…" Usopp groaned.

"We'll meet back at the Merry but stop by the platform first to pick him up," Sanji deadpanned. "As for that stupid moss head…"

"We'll stop by a few weapons shops to see if we can find him," Lumen cut in before anything could be said.

"...fair enough," Sanji conceded, and with that they went their separate ways...but not before Nami distributed the funds.

* * *

"This town really is lively," Lumen chuckled as he walked through the streets. Though...one thing did have him curious. For a town that pirates frequented, it was...really peaceful. As in, while that wasn't a BAD thing, but considering how a LOT of pirates were basically the standard 'rape, pillage, murder' variety, and this town was a place they all frequented before entering the Grand Line...then he'd have expected to see a bit more...questionable...people in the crowd. "Either the pirates all treat this like a neutral zone where you're NOT allowed to cause trouble...or the Marines are super strong...and somehow I get the feeling its door number 2," he gulped, remembering the bits he'd read, including a notable Marine they'd be meeting here. "Just hope I don't run into him just yet."

As he was walking though, he came across an odd sight. A kid was crying, apparently over a balloon, and squatting before him was a marine judging by the outfit, and a captain at that. The man had short, spiky black hair, along with a thin mustache and goatee, his skin was tan, and he looked to be of asian descent, he also seemed to be carrying something, but it was hidden underneath his captain's coat.

As well, Lumen recognised him. "Holy shit that's Hiroaki Iwanaga… or maybe it's one of his characters? Since I'm in a world where OOO exists… could he be Akira Date?"

However, he decided to wait and see what would happen first, as 'Akira Date' covered his face, and then opened it again, and judging by the smile and eventual laughter, he was cheering up the kid by making faces. This went on for a few minutes, before he went over to a vendor and soon came back with a new balloon, much to the kid's delight who thanked him and soon ran off.

Seeing that, Lumen couldn't help but smile. Making a decision, he soon walked up to the Marine and started to talk. "Looks like you made that kid's day better."

"Hm?" Akira blinked before looking at Lumen. "Oh that, yeah, I couldn't just leave the kid like that. Not to mention it was kinda my fault the balloon popped," he admitted, scratching his head a bit sheepishly. "Hm...not that I've been in town THAT long, but you seem new."

"Yeah, just got into town. We're just stopping by to restock and get going," Lumen nodded. No point in hiding it and it WAS the truth...he just figured he'd hide the part of them being Pirates.

"Oh? Planning to go into the Grand Line?" Akira mused. "Careful now, those are some dangerous waters. I should know, I'm usually stationed there."

"That so? Well, there's not much need to worry, we have a guy with a devil fruit on board, a bounty hunter, a pretty good sniper, a chef who knows how to kick ass, a damn good navigator, and I myself am good at planning." Lumen said with a small grin.

"I guess a Devil Fruit WOULD help turn the tides if you encounter some pirates. What are you heading into the Grand Line for though?" Akira asked curiously.

"Exploration mostly, seeing the sights, maybe learning some stuff about the world." Lumen said, before holding his hand out to the man "I'm Lumen, nice to meet you."

"Date Akira," he said, confirming what Lumen thought. "Well, I've got to get going. Something I'm supposed to take care of. Stay safe," he said with a friendly wave and soon walked off into the town.

Lumen smiled as he watched him walk off "Nice guy… hope I won't have to fight him… too often." he said with a sigh, knowing that he'll likely have to fight him, narrative causality and all that. With a small shrug he continued on his walk through town, finding a clothes shop where Nami was shopping….and seemed to be buying up the store.

"...you SURE you need that many?" he couldn't help but ask.

Nami hummed "I guess you're right, I don't need THAT many outfits." she said, and the salesman who had been looking giddy suddenly slumped forward.

"Well, since I'm here, I'll buy a few things while I'm at it," Lumen said, before going through the shop, and picking out a few shirts and pants. Nothing too big, just enough for a couple of weeks, which SHOULD be more than enough time to do some laundry.

Once the clothes were paid for, the two went their separate ways, Lumen still wanting to see the town a bit. The next crewmate he happened upon was Usopp, who was in a shop that looked like some kind of souvenir shop...with a clerk that just screamed 'con artist'. From what he was hearing, he was trying to sell these off as 'objects used by great pirates'. Lumen had a deadpan expression when it seemed Usopp was falling for it, before…

"...you know you're being painfully obvious that you're lying, right?" Usopp deadpanned, his face of wonder turning into a flat expression. "Seriously, those lies aren't even good. That gun is obviously fake, and no way a pirate like Gold Roger would have that unless it was a novelty item he hung on to, and even then its no good in the Grand Line," Usopp pointed out.

The con artist reeled back as if they were shot, and Lumen smirked before moving on, figuring his friend had the situation under control.

Eventually, he wound up in the food markets, where after a bit of searching, he found Sanji haggling for a… VERY impressive fish, before his fellow blonde noticed him and waved him over.

"Something up?" Lumen asked once he got close.

"Just that you might have to be the one to go find a lock for me, I don't know if I'll have enough time, though… I did find something interesting when I bought an eel earlier… this was stuck in it's throat." he said as he lifted up… a blue medal with a gold rim, the face of it depicting an electric eel.

Lumen stared blankly at the medal for a moment, before looking back up to Sanji's face "You're kidding me right?"

"I wish I was." Sanji said with a sigh, before Lumen accepted the medal, feeling that this wasn't the last stupidly found medal he'd stumble across. Seeing as he'd need to go look for the lock now, he thanked Sanji for the Medal and soon went on his way, looking for a shop that sold locks...preferably ones that would actually stand a chance in stopping Luffy. However, instead of that, he'd found what appeared to be a sword shop...and peering inside, he found Zoro...holding his arm out...while a sword fell down on it.

Lumen nearly had a heart attack when the sword came THIS close to slicing off Zoro's arm...but he soon sighed in relief when it hit the ground...and embedded itself into the floor through sheer sharpness. The shopkeeper and a short haired woman that was with him were both stunned silent. Lumen on the other hand after a moment… "THE HELL WERE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY MORON?!"

Zoro rose an eyebrow as he turned around "Hmm? Oh hey Lumen, something the matter?"

The casual response only served to tick Lumen off "I should be asking you that you fucking idiot! If that sword had been a little different you'd be missing an arm!"

Zoro's only response was to grin "Well then, I guess that just means the sword's luck ran out."

Lumen gave him a long, dead look at that "Use my catchphrase again… see what happens… they won't find the body Zoro," he growled. "Anyway, be back at the ship later after you're done. We're all going to meet up there," he said with a sigh. "And don't go doing anything crazy like that again," he added before leaving. By then the shopkeeper and the girl had finally finished rebooting their brains. It was questionable if they ever even registered Lumen's presence.

Searching for a strong lock turned out to be a bit harder than expected, but eventually he found one in a shop that actually specialized in this kind of stuff. So after some browsing (and playfully pretending some of them were Lockseeds for a joke), he finally got his hands on a nice big lock that SHOULD hold up against Luffy's ravenous assault...probably...maybe...on second thought he decided to buy another one just in case. He was sure Nami would understand.

"Now for the last thing on my list. Where's the execution platform…" Lumen sighed, and began asking for directions.

Too bad people either wanted to ignore him or mess with him.

"I keep forgetting, this is supposed to be a town pirates stop by a lot… and according to sis, it was also were Roger was born, so I shouldn't be surprised." he muttered as he tried to find SOMETHING to help.

And then he saw… probably the best thing.

"Seriously? This thing exists here?" he said in surprise as he stood in front of what LOOKED like a typical vending machine from his world.

Except he knew it wasn't.

Heaving a sigh, he took out a Cell Medal from his pocket, glad he grabbed a few just in case "Might as well make use of my good luck." he said as he put the medal in, looked at the selection, and pushed the button for what he wanted, watching as one dropped down.

It looked like a small red and white can with the image of a hawk on it, and when he pulled the tab, he wasn't surprised when it folded open, and a small mechanical hawk stood in his hand.

Internally, he was shocked that there was an actual Ride Vendor that dispensed actual Candroids, but externally, he just sighed as he looked at the Taka Candroid "Go find the execution platform for me, then come back and guide me to it, alright?"

The Candroid chirped in acknowledgement, before flying off in search of what he asked. Once it was gone… "...where the heck did this even come from?" he couldn't help but wonder, as so far there didn't seem to be any signs of a Kougami Foundation so that left the question of...who could make tech like this?

Sighing, he decided for now it'd be better to save his questions for later...and that he should take note of where the vendor was in case he'd ever need a quick getaway. Eventually the Taka Candroid came back and started leading him towards the Execution Platform. However…

Lumen was going through a street...which he noticed was strangely empty, giving him a bad feeling. True enough, when he got passed a corner, several goons suddenly came out and circled him. "...okay?" he blinked when he noticed the circus theme they had going on. Wait...circus theme? Where'd he seen that before? Oh yeah, these guys must be Buggy's boys. "What does the clown want with me?" he asked knowingly, earning a combination of surprised blinks and proud grins, the latter likely because they thought they were infamous enough even he knew them.

Well they were half-right.

"Not so much the clown as it is me." a familiar voice said from beyond them, and stepping through them was the familiar form of Honey Queen, wearing a somewhat more covering outfit, in deep blue, with a fluffy coat still.

"Oh, it's the streaker." Lumen said blandly.

A tick mark grew on her forehead "And THIS is why I want to kill you the most."

"Hey, I'm just saying the truth." Lumen said with a shit eating grin "But, I am curious though, you're running with Buggy now? What happened to your brothers?"

"Arrested by the marines after you lot left the ruins of Clockwork island, I only managed to get away because no one would assume a simple puddle to be harmful around these parts." Honey Queen explained with a sneer "After I got away, I found a kindred spirit, someone who has… issues with that brain dead captain of yours, you may have heard of her, she goes by the name of Alvida."

"That fat whale of a lady pirate?" Lumen asked, vaguely remembering what Alvida looked like in the first chapter.

Honey Queen frowned "I'm well on grounds to slap you for calling my one female friend fat you know?"

"Do I look like I honestly care?" Lumen shot back dryly.

"Fair point. I suppose there's nothing left to be said. Kill him," Honey Queen said simply.

"Yeah, like that's gonna help," Lumen groused, before putting on the OOO Driver...which already had the King's Combo loaded into it (it paid to be able to transform quickly in a place with pirates), before he scanned the medals. "Henshin!"

" **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"**

The goons were soon on him...and were promptly kicked away. "You REALLY don't learn do you? Fine then, come test your luck again." OOO growled.

"Oh, I've learned. Learned that I can't take any chances with you!" Honey Queen countered, turning into her liquid-like form...and once again left her clothes behind in the process, not that OOO could think much on that since he was assaulted by the liquid...though he DID manage to catch a glance of the goons who were staring. He didn't need to think hard at what.

Either way, he found that this was a bit harder than normal, since as it was, Tatoba wasn't ideal to fight someone like her, and he wasn't exactly in a position to switch medals just yet.

"Give it up! I figured out you need to switch those coins to switch armors! You can't switch like this!" Honey Queen laughed.

"Not on your life!" OOO growled as he continued to struggle, while at the same time the goons had finally gotten their wits about and were advancing, no doubt to take advantage of the situation...or they would, if they weren't suddenly hit in the back of the head.

"What the-?!" Honey Queen barely got to say before she was struck with something and shouted in pain as she was knocked off of OOO, reverting to her normal form, with a wound on her shoulder.

OOO blinked under his helmet and looked to the side and saw Akira, no doubt the one to attack the pirates, and in his hands was… "Where did you get that sword?!" he asked as he looked at the black sword with a sharp blue edge in the hands of the marine, the Medajalibur.

"What? The Medal Sword? It's just something my superiors wanted me to test out." Akira answered.

OOO stared at him for a moment "Medal Sword… way too on the nose… call it the Medajalibur."

Akira blinked, before grinning "Huh, that's a much better name yeah."

"Anyway, thanks for the save." OOO said with a sigh, before pulling out the Taka and Tora medals and switching them out with two new ones, scanning them " **LION! UNAGI! BATTA!"** his head replaced itself with the Lion helmet, while his arms became a new pair, the Unagi medal depicted in the centerpiece of the armor, the shoulders holding what looked like whips attached to the wrists, with a white thunderbolt pattern going down the arm.

OOO rolled his shoulders, before grabbing the whips, holding them in his hands while letting the tips drag on the floor.

"Tch! Don't underestimate me!" Honey Queen growled, turning into liquid again...but when she tried to attack both of them...she was met with a lash of the whips, and a surge of electricity going through her, pushing her back to normal again. "W-what?!" she gasped.

"How do you like the Voltarm Whip?" OOO said with a grin beneath his mask as he cracked one of the whips, which crackled with electricity.

"Damn, your stuff looks versatile." Akira said with an impressed whistle.

"Gotta be ready for anything if you're going into the Grand Line," OOO nodded.

Honey Queen growled, before moving back "It doesn't matter, we've bought enough time. Maybe you won't die today, but that idiot captain of yours is going to lose his head!" she said, before the buggy pirates with her all threw down… smoke bombs, OOO and Akira being able to hear their stampeding as they ran away.

"Hold it!" Akira tried to stop them, but too late. They were already gone. "The ones who run the fastest really are the most annoying," he grumbled.

"Forget them, my friend is in trouble!" OOO said.

"Right, she did say something. But where would they be?" Akira asked.

"He'll be at the Execution Platform. He wanted to see that place no matter what," OOO said.

"Right, follow me, I know where it is!" Akira nodded, before he turned and they ran towards the platform.

When they reached the location...the situation was less than ideal. Currently it seemed Buggy's crew had the square held hostage, and up on the execution platform was Luffy...cause obviously he'd climb up there...currently pinned down and looked like he was ready for his own execution, with Buggy looking more than happy to be the executioner. "...well fuck," OOO cursed.

"Wait, that's Buggy the Clown." Akira realised, and then looked at Luffy "And that's the kid who just got issue a bounty! Straw Hat Luffy!"

"Luffy got issued a bounty?" OOO asked, blinking, before remembering his sister mentioning how the strawhats took bounties as a big deal, and that Luffy's own would become HUGE.

"Wait, you're friends with Straw Hat Luffy?!" Akira said in surprise.

"I didn't think he was even CAPABLE of being dangerous in a way he'd get an actual bounty," OOO half-lied.

Akira frowned, before sighing "Fine, fine, let's just… get him out of there, I'll deal with arresting him after that, I can do you a favor at least and not let him die like that."

"I'll take it," OOO nodded. "So what's the plan? Namely one that ends with the least number of casualties as possible."

"Hang on," Akira said, before pulling out a baby Transponder Snail, and started talking. "Smoker? We've got a situation!"

"If it's regarding the impromptu execution taking place, then we're in position. Once Straw Hat Luffy's head falls, we are ready to begin attacking," came the voice of Marine Captain Smoker from the snail.

"Can you not?!" OOO shouted into the Transponder Snail, and on the other end, Smoker raised an eyebrow in surprise as the snail, instead of taking the features of whoever just spoke, turned into a lion's head.

"Akira… who the hell is that with you?" Smoker asked slowly.

"Long story short, one of Straw Hat's crew members, we just fought off some of Buggy's grunts and got here together, and… I sort of promised I'd save Straw Hat at the least and not let him die like that." Akira admitted with a sigh and a sheepish blush.

Smoker groaned at that. "Why am I not surprised?" he sighed. "Well, if you can manage, then go ahead, we won't stop you. However, to do that you're gonna need to fight your way through Buggy's men. Arguably, if they have a sudden distraction that should give the towns people an opening to escape, but I don't see how you'd be able to save Straw Hat along with the rest of the people," Smoker explained.

"Then we'll just have to do what we can," Akira frowned. "Just be ready to join in when Buggy attempts to escape."

The grin on the snail became savage at that. "You should know me better than that," Smoker smirked, before the call ended.

Once the call ended… "I'M THE MAN WHO IS GOING TO BE PIRATE KING!" Luffy suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, and when he did, the entire town just...stopped.

"Did he just…?!" Akira asked in shock. The idea that someone would actually shout that...in THIS town of all places...it was almost mind boggling, but not nearly as much as the sheer certainty and conviction in the voice. This...this wasn't just a dream, somehow someway, he could feel it in his bones. If this kid got away, Pirate King he may just be.

"Yep, that's Luffy alright…" OOO couldn't help but say, also reeling a bit. He'd heard Luffy say it a few times before but this...this was different. He'd know intellectually that Luffy would become Pirate King. One Piece WAS his story. But now, hearing it here...this wasn't just some kid with a big dream. This...this was a fact. Luffy would be Pirate King and there wasn't anything anyone could do to change that. With that in mind… "Well, you heard the good captain. Charge!" OOO said, before switching to Cheetah, and began running through towards the square.

"Hey! Wait up!" Akira called after him.

OOO wasn't the only one who'd heard Luffy, as Zoro and Sanji were trying to save Luffy as well, and between the lot of them, they were breaking through the crowd of thugs well enough. For a moment it seemed like OOO was going to be able to break through, but right as he was approaching the platform, he was forced to block a mace coming down on him, revealing the holder of the mace to be a rather slim woman with a curvy build and long black hair, wearing pants and a bikini top under a purple coat, a white hat with a large red feather on her head "Not so fast." she said, grunting as she was surprised OOO was still keeping his feet on the ground despite the swing.

"Zoro! Sanji! Lumen! Nami! Usopp!" everyone in the plaza heard Luffy's voice say, turning to him as the sword started to come down, and he was grinning ear to ear "Sorry, looks like I'm dead."

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT YOU IDIOT!" his crewmates roared as the sword was upon his neck, until…

 **KER-KRACK!**

It all happened so fast that it was hard to follow, but what most would say is that the heavens themselves put a stop to the execution, as the result of the attempt was a broken platform, burning on the ground, a charred and unconscious Buggy the Clown, and a completely fine Luffy, grabbing his hat as it floated down.

"Huh… guess I'm alive after all." Luffy said with a grin.

"...did you just see that?" OOO asked almost dumbly.

"...I saw it and I'm still not believing it…" Alvida couldn't help but say, everyone actually pausing mid-combat.

"If it were physically possible, I'd be removing my eyes and cleaning them right now just to make sure I'm not seeing this wrong…" Akira said, completely jaw dropped.

"Did you do that?" Sanji asked, his head stiffly turning to OOO, who shook his head vigorously and pointed at his head which was still using the Lion head part.

"Well now, isn't that something?" came a new voice, as a new figure walked into the square. The figure had slicked back brown hair and green eyes, wearing a white shirt that had a green star and the word Crimin on it, but what set off alarm bells for OOO were the green leather jacket and black pants the man wore… and then the green cloth falling down the building behind him.

"Uva… so you ARE here." OOO said nervously, having broken away from Alvida, who was now more focused on Buggy who was still a bit charred.

Uva smirked "So the new OOO knows who I am? I should be honored… even if it means I can't just trick you."

"What are you here for?" he asked, trying to sound tough, even though he was sweating buckets inside.

"Shouldn't it be obvious? I intend to make a Yummy out of Straw Hat Luffy. A desire that strong would no doubt breed a powerful Yummy," Uva smirked.

"You say that like I'll let you," OOO growled.

"You won't let me. You simply don't have a choice in the matter," Uva glared, as his arms glowed and suddenly they were replaced with the familiar arms of the insect Greeed.

OOO stared for a moment, before relaxing slightly "Oh… you aren't complete yet, are you?" he said, the smirk audible in his tone.

Uva scowled "A minor setback, my arms are all I need to take you on!"

"Not on my turf you won't!" a new voice called as… something slammed into Uva, said something appeared to be some strange sort of barrier that floated in the air in front of someone.

"Eh?" OOO blinked, honestly not expecting that.

The man who had just managed to blindside Uva had a green pompadour, a nose ring, some VERY sharp looking teeth, and was wearing a long yellow and red coat with a fur collar, his chest left exposed, showing a tattoo.

"Uh...who are you?" he asked, he DEFINITELY didn't remember reading this happening before.

The man turned to OOO, the sneer turning into a grin "Name's Bartolomeo, and I ain't about to let some creep trash around in my city, especially after I just witnessed an act of god like that."

"I don't know how I feel about letting you just do this Bartolomeo." Akira said with a frown as he kept his eyes peeled for any other surprises.

"Like I give a flying fuck about your opinion you damn Marine." Bartolomeo shot back with a sneer.

"Anyway…" OOO said, looking at Uva who was getting back up, and he had murder in his eyes "Maybe we should do the infighting later?"

"Fine, truce for now then." Bartolomeo agreed as he uncrossed his fingers, the barrier fading.

"Can I get a say in what goes on?" Luffy said from behind them, before Zoro and Sanji clamped their hands on his mouth and pulled him back.

"No, we're leaving." they said and dragged Luffy from the square, knowing Lumen would catch up soon enough.

"H-hey hold on!" Akira gasped in shock.

"Oh come off it, you can chase my friends later, right now we have a monster to deal with, priorities you know?" OOO said dryly.

Akira frowned, before sighing, turning back to Uva while holding up the Medajalibur "I really don't like agreeing with a pirate."

"No choice in the matter." OOO said, before switching out his medals again " **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"** and returning to his base form "Let's see how lucky you are Uva!"

"Luck means nothing to strength!" Uva roared, as he lashed out with his arms, sending shockwaves of energy at the combatants.

"Nice try but that won't work on me! I'm a barrier human!" Bartolomeo grinned as a barrier formed again when he crossed his fingers, the shockwaves hitting the barrier...and Bartolomeo felt himself get pushed back from the impact. "The hell?!" he gasped.

"Careful, Uva's not exactly your normal opponent. Just be glad he's not at full power!" OOO cautioned.

"THAT wasn't full power?! It felt like a fishing boat crashed into that!" Bartolomeo roared.

"Just be glad it was ONLY a fishing boat," OOO said flatly.

"Guess we can't take it easy on this guy," Akira frowned, and reached into his pocket to pull out a trio of Cell Medals, before inserting them into the slot on the Medajalibur and pushing the handle, allowing the three medals to fall into place, where they began glowing. With that ready, he charged forward, and clashed with Uva, the two grunting in effort, but eventually Uva managed to push him back...but not before he realized his right arm was 'bleeding' Cell Medals.

Uva scowled as he covered his arm "Bastard… it takes a while to build up these."

Akira blinked as he looked at Uva in shock "Why is he BLEEDING Cell Medals?"

"If you thought he was a human, you thought wrong, he's what's known as a Greeed." OOO explained. "They're literally made up of Cell Medals."

"That can't be right! Cell Medals are a rare ore that's been refined and molded into a form we can use," Akira argued.

THAT got OOO's attention. Could it be that the Marines were keeping the truth, assuming they knew it, away from their own men?

Whatever the case, the conversation was cut short, when Uva took the opportunity to go on the offensive, forcing them back, before focusing on Akira, and knocking the sword out of his hand, before kicking him in the stomach. "Let's see you fight without that toy now!" he smirked, moving for the sword...only for a barrier to come up and knock him back.

"We're still here shit head!" Bartolomeo growled, while OOO dove for the Medajalibur, and grabbed it.

"Drop the barrier!" he shouted as he charged up the Batta legs.

"If you're sure," Bartolomeo grunted before dropping the barrier and OOO jumped forward, kicking Uva several times, before slashing him with the sword, knocking him back when he blocked with his arms, and leaving him tumbling on the ground, bleeding Cell Medals again.

"Tch! They're tougher than I thought!" he growled, before looking around...and spotted the still unconscious Buggy being hauled away. "That'll do…" he smirked, before grabbing one of the fallen Cell Medals and hurled it towards the back of Buggy's head. A coin slot appeared at the back of his head, and the medal went through.

Almost immediately, a Yummy crawled out of his body, scaring his goons that were carrying him before they tried to haul him away faster once the Yummy disconnected from him… and it's body quickly changed.

"Dammit! He had a strong desire." OOO growled as the Yummy finished changing, and it's body was covered in a hard shell, with black chitin covered arms and legs, an extra pair of smaller arms beneath the first. Though that was when he noticed how the shell seemed to be glinting slightly "That… looks like a Dung Beetle… kinda." he said, not fully sure, but deciding to just go with it as he shrugged.

"Death...to the Straw Hats…!" the Yummy snarled.

"...well, that just painted a big target on my back," OOO sighed, glad that by now the rest of the crew wasn't nearby.

"Well, this thing doesn't look like it's gonna be anything but trouble," Akira frowned.

"They tend to be, but right now, I'm the main target," OOO said flatly.

"What makes you say that?" Bartolomeo asked.

"DIE STRAW HATS!" the Yummy roared and went straight for OOO, who managed to block it with the Medajalibur.

"Call it a guess," OOO grunted.

"Then we'll just have to beat it to-!" Akira started, before he had to block an attack from Uva.

"Don't think I forgot about you two, did you?" he smirked.

"Bartolomeo, help Akira please! A Yummy is tough, but nothing I can't handle. A Greeed on the other hand…" OOO said.

Bartolomeo groaned "Fine, I don't like helping a Marine directly, but no choice."

With that in mind the two began fighting against Uva, fortunately the Greeed was a bit slowed down due to his injuries, making the fight more or less equal.

Uva growled in anger, feeling weak against these two "Dammit… dammit!" he shouted out, before trying to manifest a copy of himself… at least that was what he intended, the result was a second arm appeared on his left side, just below the first.

"Okay, that's actually a little creepy," Akira admitted.

"Not that it's gonna stop us from kicking his ass!" Bartolomeo growled.

"That much I can agree with," Akira grunted.

Back with OOO, he was able to avoid most of the attacks from the Yummy now, but...well… "This armor is way too thick!" OOO growled, as another punch bounced off.

"Kill...Straw Hats…!" the Yummy snarled.

"Yeeesh, Buggy REALLY can hold a grudge," OOO couldn't help but say with a small sweat drop, seeing as this Yummy WAS made from him. However, as it was, he didn't exactly have forever to fight, so… he looked at the Medajalibur and noticed the Cell Medals had vanished, no doubt used up. So he quickly went to grab some Cell Medals that had fallen during the fight, and inserted three into the Medajalibur. Once he had them ready, he grabbed the scanner and ran it along the sword.

" **TRIPLE SCANNING CHARGE!"**

The Cell Medals glowed softly, before the glow travelled to the actual blade itself, while OOO grabbed it with both hands and hefted the blade slightly, before suddenly bringing it up high "OOO Bash!" he shouted as he brought it down vertically, and without even touching the Yummy, the energy from the blade went towards it… and everything behind it… and the scenery and the Yummy both went out of alignment, before sliding back into place, the Yummy exploding at the same time.

"Holy shit…!" Bartolomeo was slack jawed at the sight while the Cell Medals rained down. "You Marines had something like THAT?! Don't you think that's a bit overkill?!"

"Hey don't look at me! The Medal Sword, I mean, Medajalibur, wasn't even DESIGNED to be that strong when I was briefed!" Akira shot back, equally shocked.

"Tch! He's stronger than I thought. I'd better retreat," Uva growled, before he grabbed the extra arm, and squeezed, causing it to break down into Cell Medals and work to repair his damaged limbs. Once they healed, he released another shockwave, kicking up a smoke screen as he soon made his escape.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" Bartolomeo grinned when he saw the Greeed gone.

"Well… that's taken care of… now…" Akira said, turning to OOO, who was looking at where Uva last was, and was about to walk towards him, before a strong wind suddenly kicked up, pushing him back a bit.

"Holy hell that's one hell of a gale!" Bartolomeo sputtered as he hid his face from the wind.

"Oh damn, the storm's really picking up now!" OOO said, standing his ground against the wind, while being glad he had his helmet "I really gotta get back to Merry, and fast!" he said, before he started running towards the port.

"H-hey! Get back here!" Akira shouted after him, attempting to run after him, only to get blown back by the wind while Bartolomeo laughed as he watched the Marine end up being rolled around by the wind.

Back with OOO…

"I… totally forgot I was still holding onto this." he said as he looked at the Medajalibur in his hand… before shrugging "Oh well, I'm a pirate, I was bound to steal from a Marine one day."

At the moment, he wasn't sure if he'd reach port in time, so he was tracing his steps back a bit, till he found what he was looking for "There you are!" OOO said with a grin under his mask as he went up to the Ride Vendor and quickly slotted one of the Cell Medals he had grabbed from the Yummy into it, but instead of pushing the button of a Candroid, he pushed the large one and stepped out of the way as the Ride Vendor tilted forwards, the sides of the machine spinning forwards and attaching together, and where a vending machine stood, was now a black motorcycle which OOO quickly climbed on and revved the engine once before rolling down the streets towards where they had anchored Merry.

Along the way, he came across a rather...problematic sight. One Captain Smoker pinning Luffy down with his jute, which seemed to have the effect of keeping him down, and even if it hadn't there was his Smoke ability to worry about. Fortunately though… that actually proved useful here. Hitting the horn in a way that sounded like a cavalry bugle call… which had the intended effect of drawing Smoker's attention… right as he rammed through him, leaning down and grabbing Luffy in the process.

Smoker swerved his head around in shock as he reformed from his smoke, and his eyes narrowed in anger and a bit of suspicious shock "Damn pirates!" he growled, not only at the armored one interrupting him, but the fact that they were using a Ride Vendor, which only the Marines were supposed to know how to use correctly. Oh, and he swore he saw the Medal Sword strapped to the armored one's back.

"See ya Smoky!" Luffy shouted back with a laugh as OOO hoisted him onto the back of the bike, with Luffy having a hand on the Rider's shoulder and the other on his hat, before he turned back to his crewmate with a grin "Where'd you get this awesome thing?"

"It was a vending machine, it turned into a bike when I put a Cell Medal in it." OOO shot back, the smirk audible in his voice.

Luffy chuckled at that "Awesome."

Unnoticed to everyone though, a hooded figure stood on top of a house, watching Luffy speed away with OOO, a grin crossing their face as lightning flashed, their tattooed face being visible for a brief second "Luffy... you've made a powerful ally my son."

Back to OOO and Luffy, the two kept riding, and were soon headed for the Going Merry. At the sight of the incoming vehicle…

"Go go go!" Usopp shouted, looking through his new goggles.

"What about Luffy and Lumen?" Nami asked.

"I think they got it covered…" Sanji blinked, before pointing at the incoming Ride Vendor.

"Damn, newbie keeps getting some good stuff," Zoro couldn't help but smirk, before they quickly sailed off from where they were, just as OOO and Luffy hit a curve, and were soon flying in the air, and landed perfectly on the deck of the departing Merry.

"And all that...on the first ride!" OOO couldn't help but say with a grin.

* * *

Back with Smoker, he was about to give chase...until Akira came up, looking like he'd ran the whole way...which he had. "S-Smoker...did you...happen to see...a guy in...tricolored armor...carrying the Medal Sword…?" he groaned.

Smoker wordlessly pointed towards the departing ship in the distance.

"...I'm screwed, aren't I?" Akira asked flatly.

"Unless you get it back or Vegapunk is happy with the data...yep," Smoker sighed.

"Shit…" Akira said in despair.

* * *

"Wooh!" Luffy shouted as hung onto Merry's head "It feels like the ship's gonna turn over at any second!" he said with a laugh as the rough waves rocked the ship almost dangerously.

"I'll say, makes me glad I'm not the type to get seasick!" Lumen added, being untransformed now after setting up the Ride Vendor in the kitchen (Nami had been proud of him for stealing not only a weapon but a vehicle), and keeping a hand on the railing of the ship.

"Ah! Look over there!" Nami called, pointing towards a lighthouse barely visible through the dark storm, though the light could be seen perfectly.

"What's special about that lighthouse?" Usopp asked as he clung to the main mast.

"It's our guiding light." Nami said with a light grin "That light points towards the entrance of the Grand Line."

"The Grand Line is right there huh?" Luffy asked, his excitement clearly visible.

"That's right." Nami nodded, before grinning at him "So? What now captain?"

"Are we ACTUALLY going in during a storm?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"It's that or the Marines catch up." Zoro said with a smirk as he rested a hand on his new swords.

"No choice then is there?" Sanji added as he leaned onto the railing.

"Nope!" Luffy grinned before laughing.

Usopp sighed "Great, we're all gonna die."

"Lighten up Usopp, this is what adventure's all about!" Lumen shot back to the Sniper with a laugh.

"Now then, why don't we have a little launching ceremony to mark the start of our REAL journey?" Sanji suggested as he pushed a barrel into the center of the upper deck.

"Totally!" Let's do it!" "Why not?" "Oh fine dammit!" "I'm up for it!"

One by one, they propped a leg up, placing a foot onto the barrel.

Sanji went first "To find the All blue!"

Then Luffy "To become the Pirate King!"

Zoro "To be the greatest swordsman of the sea!"

Nami "To draw a map of the world!"

Lumen "To uncover the mystery of OOO!"

And finally Usopp, who swallowed nervously before putting his foot on it "To become a brave warrior of the sea!"

Luffy's grin widened after a moment "Let's go… to the Grand Line!"

"Aye!"

* * *

 **And there!**

 **Hope it was as epic as it originally was.**

 **Now, bet no one expect honey Queen to show back up again so soon, and as part of Buggy's crew at that.**

 **Yeah, me and Timeless were wondering at first if she would get caught like in the movie, but then we realised that wouldn't work here, so we made her escape, and then, I came up with the idea of putting her on Buggy's crew.**

 **Also, Akira Date, yeahp, the exact same one from the canon of OOO, he's a Marine here.**

 **What does this mean for the future? Why did he have the Medajalibur? And why do the Marines have Ride Vendors and Candroids?**

 **All of that will be answered... eventually.**

 **As for why Uva looked a bit off... again, a mystery that will be answered later.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because next time, it's off the Grand Line, and the start of the greatest journey ever!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Welcome back to Desire Cruise!**

 **So, a little note you might be interested in, Timeless and I are working on SEVERAL One Piece stories at the moment, one of which is his own story, Stars Over the Sea, a One Piece/Kyuranger crossover, and then of course there is Desire Cruise here, a One Piece/Kamen Rider OOO crossover, and Father, Pirate, Dragon? which is a One Piece/Pokemon crossover.**

 **But there are two more.**

 **One which was heavily inspired by the most well known One Piece SI on the site, This Bites, go give it a read, Cross is a pretty hilarious character, and so is Soundbite, and thus, Timeless and I started writing our own One Piece SI.**

 **It'll be posted... eventually, we have some chapters done, but I think I want to finish a few more first.**

 **Another is a more recent idea.**

 **I won't reveal much on it, except that you probably won't expect it.**

 **Anyway, time for Reverse Mountain!**

* * *

"Alright, so this is where we are," Nami started, pointing to a spot on the map. "And this is where we're going," she continued, moving her finger to Reverse Mountain. "The Reverse Mountain is the gateway into the Grand Line other than the Calm Belt...which is horrible for SOOO many reasons. We'll need to climb the mountain to get into the Grand Line."

"Climb with the ship?" Usopp blinked "That makes no sense, how could Merry climb up a mountain?"

"If I remember right, it's some sort of rising current, correct?" Lumen checked.

Nami nodded "Exactly, the water rises up Reverse Mountain in each of the four Blues, with a fifth current depositing anything that reaches the top into the Grand Line."

"Do the Marines get in with the same method?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nami hummed in thought, before looking at Lumen with a raised eyebrow "Do they?"

Lumen had to think back on this, before shaking his head "No, they don't, if I remember right, they coat the underside of the ship with a special stone that makes them invisible to sea kings and use a paddle system to get their ships through the Calm Belt, I don't remember the specifics though, it's been a while."

"Hm… we should really look into getting something like that for our ship. Could be useful on days where the weather isn't good," Nami mused, but nodded all the same. "At any rate, beyond that alternative method, this is our only way into the Grand Line, and once we do that, it's a one way trip. The only way out is through the Calm Belt, so that's why we wanted to be as ready as we could be," Nami explained.

"Speaking of which…" Lumen added, to which Nami showed him the new accessory on her wrist.

"I went looking like you said, and I found this Log Pose, and knowing how things get...I had it made extra durable," she added at the end.

"...probably for the best," Lumen nodded in agreement.

"We'll be reaching the light house first, then from there we can get onto Reverse Mountain, but even getting in won't be easy. The currents run up several narrow rivers, so one wrong move and well…" Nami trailed off.

"Are you sure we can't go through another way…?" Usopp whimpered.

"Nope, this is the only way alright," Sanji said with a shrug.

"Why does god hate me?" Usopp whined as his head slammed into the table.

"Awww, don't be like that. It'll be fun!" Luffy grinned. "This is our first step into the Grand Line and to reach the One Piece!"

"Well, you heard our captain," Zoro smirked. "Let's keep going."

"Ok, but I feel the need to ask, WHY is the Calm Belt so bad? I've never seen a sea king before if that helps explain my confusion." Usopp asked.

"Imagine the biggest sea snake you can, then multiply its size by 10." Sanji said simply. "Oh, and the Calm Belt is literally their BREEDING GROUNDS."

"Plus there's no wind in the Calm Belt, so, you know, do the math." Nami said with a shrug.

Usopp paled slowly, before swallowing thickly "Noted."

"Now, let's get back out there." Nami said as she headed back outside, the others following her to see that the storm seemed to be lessening somewhat.

"Didn't you say the storm would last a while earlier?" Usopp asked.

"I did… looks like we went off course a bit and veered close to the Calm Belt. We caught it early enough though. Zoro, go steer the rudder towards the starboard side." Nami said, before pointing Zoro back into the cabin.

"Right." he said simply, knowing this wasn't the time to complain about being ordered around by her, as he headed into the cabin and shifted the rudder so they headed back on track.

"Guess we lucked out." Luffy chuckled as they headed back into the storm.

"As lucky as staying in a storm sounds in a sane world… but we're heading into the Grand Line, and from what I've heard, best to throw sanity out the window once you're there." Lumen said with a sigh.

"Okay, seriously, how bad IS it?" Usopp groaned. "A stormy sea? Sea monsters? Pirates who'd gut us alive?"

"Seas with weather from hell, and by that I mean it can be sunny one moment, then snowy another, then torrential rain, and then storms that'd knock a village over. Then there's the Sea Kings, and of course the Pirates so… yeah," Lumen nodded.

Usopp looked at him for a long moment, before staring out into the raging waters, taking a deep breath "I'm sorry if I'm insane once I come back everyone!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Best you can do really yeah." Sanji nodded, approving of Usopp's idea.

"Anyway, the details are still foggy for me, but one thing I know for sure, NEVER let anything happen to the Log Pose, or we'll be lost faster than you can say 'what could go wrong'," Lumen added.

"Never say that phrase on a ship, Shanks told me that and made sure I remembered it." Luffy nodded sagely.

"Fair point. Murphy might be listening," Lumen conceded. "At any rate, how long before we reach the mountain?"

"Should be about 10 minutes, we'll probably see the Red Line first before Reverse Mountain." Nami said as she held onto the railing while wearing a raincoat.

"Got it, in the meantime, I think I'll check what the Ride Vendor has for us, I didn't give it a proper look earlier after all." Lumen mused as he went back into the kitchen.

Looking at the Ride Vendor, he really did have to wonder what exactly was going on right now, but knew he wouldn't get his answers just like that.

Either way, time to take inventory, and he was thankful for having worked in stores that used vending machines before, so he knew how to open it up easily… and grinned at the result of a rather full change compartment in the machine.

He'd have to say it was probably somewhere around 500 000 Berries, which was decent enough.

Then he looked at the selection of Candroids available, and saw the obvious ones, like Taka, Tako and Batta, but it also held the Denki Unagi and Gorilla Candroids… and a new one as well.

"Huh… Shachi Candroid… I think I'll keep one handy to see what it does." he mused as he popped in a Cell Medal and pushed the button, getting the new Candroid and leaving it in his pocket for now.

"We're almost at the mountain! Everyone get ready!" he heard Nami shout, making him run back outside with an excited grin, idly passing the bag full of coins to her.

"Here, 500 000 Berries, it was in the Ride Vendor, anyway did I miss anything?" he asked.

Nami grinned as she looked at the bag of coins, before looking back at him "Well, it's hard to see, but we're right next to the Red Line." she said, gesturing to the Starboard side, Lumen looking over… and up… and up… and so far up his neck was hurting.

"Woah…" he trailed off in awe.

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive." Usopp said from his spot just below where he was tying down a few things just to be on the safe side.

After that it was just a few minutes before Reverse Mountain came in sight.

"Hearing about it is one thing, but seeing it is a whole other." Usopp said, swallowing nervously.

"And we're about to climb it!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Better get ready, cause this is going to be a bumpy ride!" Sanji frowned.

"Everyone get to position!" Nami ordered, and everyone did just that. This was their one chance. If they screwed it up...well...probably wouldn't be getting a second chance.

"I don't think we're lined up correctly though." Lumen said in worry as he looked at the gates leading up the mountain.

"He's right! Hard to Starboard!" Luffy shouted back from the front.

"This is a freaking current from hell." Zoro grunted as he pulled the rudder with all his strength, the wood groaning… before it broke.

"Oh no!" Nami shouted in fear.

"We're gonna die!" Usopp wailed.

Thankfully, Luffy acted quickly "Gum Gum Balloon!" and sucked in enough air to blow up like a balloon and squeezed himself between the Merry and the gate, groaning at the pressure it applied to him, before the Merry managed to realign itself… and Luffy was about to be left behind.

"Luffy! Grab on!" Lumen rushed towards the back and held his hand out, Luffy stretching himself as far as he could and managing to grab his hand just in time, with Lumen bringing him back onto the ship… where Luffy crashed into the cabin.

"That was a close one," Lumen sighed. "How close to the top are we?"

"We're close! I think the path is getting clear!" Nami said with a grin, to which everyone soon stepped out to the front of the ship to get a look. True enough, they could see that they were now on a straight line, with them soon reaching the clouds.

"We're in the clouds!" Luffy grinned as he hopped onto his special seat on Merry's figure head.

"And we just went over them!" Usopp gasped, as they just cleared the clouds and with it, they could see the top of Reverse Mountain.

"There it is! The summit!" Nami said as they saw the top where the water began to spray up from the force of the current, and they were so high that the spray from the streams froze into ice, making for an absolutely breathtaking view.

Once they reached the top, they had to hold on tight as Merry got flung up into the air, letting them briefly see the other ascending streams, before they fell down into the descending one.

All of them couldn't help but grin at the excitement of the situation, as they started to descend into the Grand Line.

'I'll figure out these mysteries surrounding OOO in there… I just know it.' Lumen thought to himself.

"Onward to the Grand Line and to the One Piece!" Luffy cheered as they went down the mountain, which now felt like the world's biggest waterslide.

"Hang on to your everything!" Lumen shouted as everyone grabbed hold of something as they went down at massive speeds, and before long they were cutting through the clouds.

"This is the greatest!" Sanji grinned as they went through the clouds.

"I know right?!" Lumen grinned as well as they felt the speed and the cool air hit them, everyone enjoying this. However…

"Did you hear that?" Zoro asked.

"Hear what?" Nami asked.

"I don't really know how to describe it." Zoro said.

"Maybe it was just the wind, there's a lot of strange rock formations that could have caused it after all." Nami waved him off.

Right after she said that however, they all heard it.

" **BWOOOOOHHHH!"**

"What in the…?" Usopp muttered as he pulled down one of the lenses of his goggles to get a better view, managing to see a vague shape "Hey guys? It almost looks like there's a mountain in the way!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Nami shot back.

"Usopp's right though, I can see it too!" Sanji said as he had climbed up to the crow's nest.

"There should be nothing but ocean after the twin capes though!" Nami argued further.

At that moment, they cleared the clouds, and they could finally see it.

"That's not a mountain!" Zoro said in alarm.

"It's a huge black wall!" Luffy shouted.

"No you idiot!" Nami found the time to dope slap Luffy at least.

"It's a whale!" Lumen shouted as they all recognized the animal before them… though it was a HUGE whale.

"Do whales grow THAT big?!" Usopp gasped.

"Not normally!" Sanji swallowed thickly.

"What should we do?!" Zoro glanced around as he asked.

"Fight it?" Luffy suggested.

"Shut it you moron!" Nami punched him this time.

"The current's taking us straight towards it!" Usopp panicked as he started running around the deck.

"Well, hold on a bit, if that's a whale, then where's the eye?" Sanji asked.

"He's right, maybe it hasn't seen us yet!" Lumen said hopefully.

"At this rate we'll hit it dead on though." Nami said, biting her thumb in worry.

"Oi! I see an opening on the left over there!" Zoro pointed, drawing their attention to the tiny path they might be able to take.

"We gotta turn to Port!" Lumen shouted as he ran for the rudder.

"It's still broken though!" Sanji added as he went to help.

"Then we'll all pull! Come on Usopp!" Zoro said as he ran past Usopp, the sniper quickly following as the four of them started trying to pull the rudder.

"Ah! I just got an idea!" Luffy said before suddenly going in the room beneath the front deck.

"Luffy? What are you doing?!" Nami shouted after him, before looking back ahead with a more panicked expression.

The four pulling at the rudder were using all their strength, but it just wouldn't budge, as they slowly got closer and closer towards the whale.

"It's over." Nami muttered fearfully as at this point there was no way to stop the ship.

And then the front cannon fired, making the ship jerk suddenly as it lost a lot of its momentum… and it all took them a second to realise what happened "He fired the cannon?!" they shouted incredulously.

"Did the ship stop?" Luffy asked. He got his answer when the ship collided with the whale, Merry's head snapping off in the process and landing on the door right in front of him. "Ah! My special seat's broken!"

"THAT'S what you're worried about?!" the others roared.

"Dammit! Just… forget that idiot, let's get out of here!" Lumen said, and everyone agreed as they took out the oars and started paddling around the whale.

"Still, what kind of monster do you have to be to just shrug off a cannon ball hitting you?" Sanji said, sweating as he looked up at the whale.

"Something the size of an island. Seriously, whales can live in DEEP waters and thus have thick hides, so a whale this big...we might as well be using a bean bag on it!" Lumen shot back.

"Just keep going!" Zoro shouted, not particularly interested or caring about the details. However, right as they were going around the side of the whale, it let out a rumble, which while probably low for it...was absolutely ear splitting for them.

"Someone make it stop!" Lumen shouted.

"Keep rowing, ignore the sound!" Usopp shouted.

"Too loud!" Sanji groaned. The crew started to make their way around the whale and could see its eye...and then Luffy happened.

"Damn you...WHY DID YOU BREAK MY SPECIAL SEAT?!" Luffy shouted in anger as he extended his arm… and punched the whale's eye.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MORON?!" roared the entire crew, Lumen in particular was feeling VERY tempted to use the Gorilla medal for the sole purpose of shaking their idiot captain in a vain but oh so satisfying attempt to deal with the stupid.

"How ya like that!" Luffy shouted.

A few tense moments passed...and the whale's eye promptly focused on them.

"...on a scale of 1 to 10, how screwed do you think we are?" Lumen asked flatly.

"...does 50 sound right?" Nami asked in despair.

"...that's fair…" the remaining males on the ship save the captain said in equal despair.

"You want some more you bastar-" Luffy was shouting to the whale, till he was cut off by Zoro and Usopp kicking him to the ground.

"Stop trying to get us killed!" they shouted in unison.

The whale continued to stare at them for a long while, as it slowly lowered it's body and shifted so that it was horizontal rather vertical… and then it opened its mouth and let out what could only be called a roar by human standards… while water rushed into its mouth… and Merry was stuck in the current.

"Well… it was nice knowing you guys…" Usopp muttered while he was pale as a sheet.

"Why didn't I look into being Ultraman instead of a Kamen Rider, I could have just turned giant and kept the mouth open, Kamen Rider is pretty useless in these kinds of situations dammit dammit dammit…" Lumen trailed off while banging his head on a wall.

"...not even going to question that," Zoro deadpanned, and they were soon sucked into the mouth of the whale.

The current was somehow even more turbulent inside of its maw "Hey! Don't you dare eat us you bastard!" Luffy shouted as he jumped onto the railing, before losing his balance and falling off the ship.

"Dammit Luffy!" Sanji shouted in annoyance as he tried to grab the rubber idiot, though felt some relief when he saw Luffy's arm stretch and grab a tooth of the whale… and then hoist himself out of the mouth, likely by reflex.

"Well… at least one of us made it out." Nami said fearfully… before the mouth closed… and the whale swallowed.

* * *

"So...just to recap, we just went down the gullet of a whale, right?" Lumen asked.

"Yep," Sanji nodded.

"We cleared the throat…"

"That we did," Nami sighed.

"And we should be in the stomach."

"That's usually what happens yeah," Zoro nodded.

"...right. So...anyone feel like finding out the reason why it looks like we ENDED UP OUTSIDE?!" Lumen finished with a raise of his voice.

"...we went insane?" Usopp guessed.

"...the sad part, that's actually viable here…" Lumen groaned.

"That or we're having a weird collective dream." Zoro said with a shrug.

"Then that would make the house on the little island an illusion then." Sanji figured as they all stared at the tiny little island.

"...want to see if its real or not?" Usopp ventured after a few moments. He needed something to test their sanity.

And then the water in front of them bubbled up and a large squid rose up out of it.

"We can test that after we dice him up." Lumen said as he held up the Medajalibur while Zoro clicked Wado out.

And then a trio of harpoons speared through the squid.

"...points towards it NOT being an illusion," Nami blinked, as they all looked to the source of the harpoons and…

"...okay, either that's a walking plant, or its an old man with a very...unique...taste in head gear…" Lumen blinked almost dumbly as they saw a old man with a short (but uniquely styled) beard, a balding head, and… literally a flower around the top of his head, that or it was some sort of crazy hat, and he was dressed like he lived in the sun all the time.

He pulled in the squid closer to his house, staying silent all the while, before slowly walking off to the side, staring at the crew all the while, making for a rather tense atmosphere, until… he just plopped down on a sun chair and opened the newspaper.

"Say something asshole!" Sanji shouted, annoyed at being dismissed after such a heavy moment.

The old man looked at them.

"If its a fight you want, we can do that! We've got cannons!" Usopp said. What followed was a tense moment as he stared at them, they stared back, he stared back, they stared back, then…

"Don't. Or someone will die," he said.

"And who might that be?" Lumen asked, looking a little weary while Zoro and Sanji looked ready to fight, and Nami and Usopp were more than a little freaked out. This guy seemed serious. Heck, maybe he was super strong despite his old looks. This WAS the Grand Line after all.

The old man stared back, then they stared back, and then he stared back, then…

"Me of course," the old man said. And with that, the tension died in a train crash.

"Freaking asshole!" Sanji shouted as he was about to jump over and kick the old man's ass were it not for Lumen holding him back.

"Let's just stay calm if he's being peaceful." Zoro said as he stepped up "Sorry old man, but could you tell us where we are? And who are you anyway?"

The old man stared, they stared back, he stared back, and then…

"If you want something from someone, its proper manners to introduce yourself first," the old man said.

Zoro blinked. "Ah...you're right. My mistake," he said, but just as he was about to start introducing himself…

"My name is Crocus. I am the keeper of the Twin Capes Lighthouses. I am 71 years old, Gemini, Blood type AB…" and on and on Crocus rattled off, much to Zoro's ire.

"CAN I KILL HIM NOW?!" he roared, looking ready to jump out and commit murder.

"You want to know where you are? Well, you're in my one-man resort, and yelled such rude things at me," Crocus said. "Do you think you're inside a rat's stomach?"

"So we really are inside the whale's stomach then?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"But, how does that even make sense?" Nami asked, gobsmacked.

"Hold on, I just noticed… the clouds haven't moved at all the whole time we've been here, there's no sign of the sun in the sky… and the seagulls are just frozen like that." Lumen pointed out.

"Wait, it's all painted?! How much free time does that old man have?!" Usopp asked with his jaw hanging.

"Forget that! How do we get out of here then?! I don't want to be digested!" Nami asked in a panic.

"Coming out the back end… not how I want to go." Zoro admitted.

Crocus then stared at them. They stared back. Then he stared back. Then…

"STOP DOING THAT!" the crew shouted.

"Can't you appreciate a good running gag?" Crocus said.

"THAT WAS A RUNNING GAG?!"

"The exit is over there," Crocus said, pointing to the side….at the big door that was seemingly hanging in the air.

"THAT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME?!"

"Why is there a door in a whale's stomach though?" Nami wondered.

"Let's not worry about that and just go, hopefully Luffy is waiting for us outside." Lumen sighed.

"He's right, let's get out of here." Sanji agreed with his fellow blond.

"Fair enough, best I don't break my brain on this." Nami sighed.

Right as they were about to start paddling towards the exit however, the stomach acid around them started shaking around violently.

"Now what's going on?" Zoro asked in annoyance.

"He started again." Crocus said gravely.

"Started? Started what?!" Lumen asked.

"Laboon… he started bashing his head against the Red Line again." Crocus said.

"Why would it do that?" Usopp wondered as he hanged on tight to Merry.

"Wait, hold on, now that I think about it, the whale had a lot of scars on it, you don't think…?" Nami trailed off.

"That he's trying to kill the whale from the inside? Possibly." Zoro mused.

Lumen frowned at that "Somehow… I don't think that's the case."

"What makes you say that?" Sanji asked him.

"Crocus said the name of the whale… Laboon… why would he name something he's trying to kill?" Lumen explained.

"That's… a good point." Nami said with a frown "Guess there's more to the situation than we thought."

"Hey, the old man just jumped into the stomach acid!" Usopp pointed at the now empty island (which was actually a ship if the metal hull beneath it was any hint).

"Leave it be. Let's just get out of here for now, Luffy's waiting for us." Zoro said seriously.

"He's right, let's hurry up." Sanji said before they started rowing towards the door.

Meanwhile…

Luffy face planted on the ground after he fell through a passageway. Shaking the dizziness off, he looked around. "Where am I now?" he sighed, still marveling at the fact this was all inside a whale. However, before he could think much of it, the floor suddenly tipped over, and he began sliding back. At first he tried clawing his way up, but when that didn't work...he decided to go the other option and ran with the momentum. The only problem was…

"I can't stop!" he shouted as he was now running full tilt...and before long saw a door up ahead and two people standing before it. Unsurprisingly he rammed right into them, and through the door, sending them flying through...an open area?

"What… those two again?" Crocus muttered.

"Is that…?" Lumen trailed off.

"Luffy?" Zoro asked in confusion.

"Oh! Hey guys! Glad you're alright! So, um, not to rush or anything but… HELP!" he said as he suddenly fell into the stomach acid.

"Why didn't that idiot stretch over to the ship?" Sanji wondered.

"You just answered your own question." Nami pointed out dryly.

"Well, Luffy and those two just fell into the water. We'd better fish them out," Lumen said, before strapping on the OOO Driver, and inserting the Taka, Unagi, and Batta medals and scanning them. "Henshin!"

" **TAKA! UNAGI! BATTA!"**

Once he was decked in the armor, OOO quickly extended the Unagi Whips, and lashed out into the water. By a good stroke of luck, he managed to hook around Luffy...as well as the two people that came with him, and soon pulled them all out of the water, causing them to land on the deck. "Well...that was lucky. Now...what to do with these two?" OOO asked.

"Let's wake up the idiot first." Sanji said as he kicked Luffy's leg.

"Luffy! Wake up!" Usopp said with a grin as he slapped Luffy in the face.

"I'm up!" Luffy shot awake, not even registering the slap honestly.

"Welcome back aboard captain." OOO said with a smirk beneath his helmet.

"Good to be back." Luffy said with a laugh as he looked around "Woah, the inside of this place is really weird. Think the whale is like a robot?"

"I'm leaning more towards the old man just having a LOT of time on his hands." Zoro said with a shrug.

Suddenly they all heard the whale gave a more subdued sound as the two unknown people came around, OOO looking at them closely considering they couldn't see his eyes beneath the helmet.

The man had orange hair, wearing a fake crown on his head (the jewels were obviously made of plastic) with the number 9 painted beneath each eye, and wearing a fancy looking green suit.

The woman had long blue hair tied in a ponytail, and was wearing a green coat over a dark blue tank top that had a spiral pattern on it… which looked a bit suggestive considering there were separated spirals for her stomach and on each of her breasts, and she wore a simple pair of white shorts with high heeled boots, she also seemed to be eyeing his armor with a look he couldn't quite identify.

"Looks like the whale calmed down." Nami said, sighing in relief.

"Looks like it." Zoro nodded, before looking back at the other two "Now… what to do with you?"

The two of them blinked, before they started talking among themselves...in a way that they could clearly hear. With the gist being that they seemed quite...focused...on this whale. However, before anything else could be said…

"You two again?!" Crocus said in annoyance and anger.

"You know these two?" OOO asked.

"Yeah, they're from a nearby town. These two keep trying to kill Laboon to feed their town since an island whale like him could potentially sustain them for a couple of years. Not on my watch though!" he glared. "As long as I live, you won't lay a finger on Laboon!"

"Well that's too bad old man, but we don't intend to let you interfere with our whaling anymore!" the two said, before they aimed a pair of bazookas. "We're gonna blow a hole right through its stomach!" they shouted and fired….though the cannon balls didn't go far, as OOO lashed out with his weapons, and promptly tossed the cannon balls aside, where they landed in the water.

"Yeaaah...no. Not gonna let that happen," OOO said simply. "I don't think anyone here is interested in seeing a whale die...especially not like this."

Before the two had time to properly process what happened, their heads were slammed together by Luffy, knocking them out cold.

"...well...that's one way to deal with them," OOO sweat dropped.

* * *

"You didn't have to help me, even though you did anyway." Crocus said as he sat on his chair, while the two would be whalers were tied up and still knocked out.

"Just didn't want to see a whale get blown up from the inside." Lumen explained simply with a shrug.

"Same here." Luffy said with a nod… while hanging onto the tree on Crocus's little ship for some reason, with Usopp trying to pull him down.

"So… the whale's called Laboon right? What's it doing here?" Nami asked.

"That...well, that's a story from a long time ago…" Crocus sighed. "First of all, Laboon is an island whale, which usually live in West Blue. They're the largest species of whales in the world," he started. "But Laboon was different. He came here years ago with a group of Pirates. They were a jolly bunch of pirates who Laboon followed, having adopted them as his family after he was separated from his pod," Crocus said. "They wanted to travel the world, but realized the Grand Line would be too dangerous to bring a baby whale with them, so they left him here, asking me to take care of him till they returned…" Crocus sighed sadly.

"I'm guessing that didn't turn out so well…" Lumen sighed.

"You'd be right. They promised they'd return in a few years. It's been 50," Crocus shook his head sadly.

"50 years?!" Usopp said in shock.

Crocus nodded "And the reason he has all those scars, is that he's constantly ramming against the Red Line, trying to break through it, to go and see his friends. I still remember the day it all started. Those pirates, the Rumbar Pirates if I remember correctly, they stayed at the Twin Capes for a few months, taking the time to repair their ship before they'd head out into the Grand Line, Honestly, by then, I could easily say they were my friends just as they were Laboon's own. Then, on that day, they had to begin their journey in the Grand Line, no place for a baby whale, no matter how big he would become one day, so they left him here, asking me to take care of him till they returned." Crocus said with a sigh, before he stood up "How about we finish this back outside, staying in the stomach acid too long won't be good for your ship."

The crew nodded at that, the mood subdued, as they hauled the two would be whalers onto the ship and used the canal that Crocus had built inside Laboon to exit the inside of the whale.

"Gotta admit, it's pretty impressive he's still alive with all this inside of him." Zoro said.

"Is this more of you having fun?" Sanji asked Crocus.

"More like this is me doing my job as his doctor." Crocus answered as his little ship travelled along ahead of the Merry "Long ago I ran a clinic on this little cape, and I was even a doctor on a pirate crew a while back."

"Hey, want to be the doctor for my crew then?" Luffy asked with a grin.

Crocus chuckled "Don't be silly, I'm too old for any grand adventures of the sort, I'd sooner throw out my back before I was of any help to you lot." he said as his ship stopped next to a ladder and he climbed up, heading for a wheel next to the large gate in front of them.

With that, he turned the wheel, and the gates opened, revealing the open sky, while the Merry soon sailed out...from what appeared to be Laboon's side.

"At least it wasn't the back end." Lumen said with a dry laugh.

"Does that mean we would have counted as poop?" Luffy asked with a laugh.

"Moron!" Nami said as she slapped him in the back of the head.

"Still though, 50 years is a pretty long time to wait, those pirates are kinda jerks for dragging this on so much for Laboon." Usopp said with a sigh.

"Idiot, this is the Grand Line for a reason you know? It's more likely that they died." Sanji said as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"That's for sure, goes to show how harsh the conditions on the Grand Line actually are." Nami admitted with a sigh.

"How can you guys say something so heartless like that?!" Usopp turned to them with an angered look.

"It's the most likely explanation though, I doubt they could have just left the Grand Line after all, if they tried the Sea Kings would have gobbled them up." Lumen shot back, making Usopp falter.

"They're right. Many years ago, I joined a crew to try to find them. We sailed much of the Grand Line, and I didn't find any sign of them," Crocus sighed. "The Grand Line is a dangerous place, and back in the day, it was even MORE dangerous than it is today without the growing knowledge of how to navigate it, or the newer technology that allows ships to better weather the various dangers. They were good people, and strong enough pirates...but strong enough just doesn't cut it in a sea like the Grand Line…" Crocus said sadly.

"So, he's been waiting for so long, for friends that aren't alive to come back." Zoro mused.

"I guess life is just cruel like that sometimes." Nami sighed sadly.

"Haven't you told Laboon his friends are dead after so many years?" Lumen asked.

"I did. But he refused to listen." Crocus said with a sigh "The day I told him was the day he started bellowing and bashing his head against the Red Line."

"So, 50 long years of him being in denial, and you making sure he doesn't kill himself while doing so, must be a tough life." Sanji said.

"It is, but it's the life I've chosen for myself." Crocus said resolutely.

Luffy frowned at the story, before he walked away. That was when the sound of wood breaking was heard.

"Huh? What was-WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YOU MORON?!" Lumen shouted when he saw Luffy running up Laboon's side...carrying a giant stake made out a mast. The MAIN mast of the Going Merry at that. "WE NEED THAT YOU IDIOT!"

Of course, his shouts fell on deaf ears, as Luffy ran up Labon...and jammed the mast into him with a shout of "Gum Gum Flower Arrangement!".

Laboon stopped, before soon roaring in pain.

"DAMMIT LUFFY!" the crew all shouted together as Laboon started thrashing around.

And then the whale jumped out of the water and rammed into Reverse Mountain.

"Laboon! Stop! You're gonna kill him!" Crocus shouted at the whale.

"Don't worry, Luffy's a lot stronger than that, despite how moronic he is." Nami said in aggravation.

At that point Laboon roared in pain, probably from ramming into the mountain so hard as Luffy got back up with a grin, jumping away from the rushing whale, before being slammed back down by Laboon's tail, quickly retaliating by punching his eye again, getting thrown into the lighthouse, and then retaliating with a kick that actually staggered Laboon back.

"Why the hell is he fighting the whale?!" Sanji asked incredulously.

"I don't know but this is the dumbest thing this moron has done!" Zoro said.

"So far, you forgot the so far, I just know he's going to do worse." Usopp added in exasperation.

When their moronic captain got thrown into the lighthouse again and Laboon was about to ram into him, he said something that made everyone, the whale included, pause "It's a draw!"

Luffy grinned as he got up, putting his hat back on his head "I'm pretty strong huh? Bet you want to beat me? Well, our fight isn't over. We'll have to fight again someday. Your old friends may be dead now, but from now on, you have a rival in me! We'll fight again someday, and see which one of us is the strongest! So count on me to come back here once I'm the Pirate King!"

"So THAT's what he was doing." Lumen sighed, smiling a bit as they all caught on to Luffy's idea.

"His brain really works in strange ways sometimes." Nami said with a sigh despite the slight smile on her face.

"When I'm back, let's fight again!" Luffy shouted at Laboon, the whale actually starting to cry before it bellowed happily at the sky.

* * *

"...no comment," Lumen sighed at the very poorly drawn jolly roger on Laboon's head. Obviously it was supposed to be their own jolly roger, and while he admitted Luffy using it as incentive for Laboon to not bash his head again was a good idea, the look of it was still...pretty bad. On top of that, thanks to Luffy's hair brained idea, they were now stuck here until they finished repairing the Mast, which was being hastily reattached with nails and some spare wood and metal sheets.

"It wouldn't kill you to give us some help ya know!" Usopp glared at Zoro who was sleeping away.

"Hey, come to think of it, whatever happened to those two…?" Nami mused.

"They must have gotten away in all the commotion," Sanji noted.

"Well...they're not gonna get far," Lumen mused.

"Why do you say that?" Nami asked.

"They dropped this," Lumen said, holding up a Log Pose.

Nami snorted at that "Pretty clumsy of them."

Lumen grinned a bit as an idea came "Want to mess with them and get information from them?" he asked.

Nami slowly grinned "Go on."

"Chances are, they just realised they lost this, so, first, let's grab their attention." he said as he went closer to the edge of the ship, and made sure the Log Pose was in plain view of the ocean.

After some moments, they heard a small explosion a little ways away from them, making them look out at the water, blinking in confusion "That's… not what I expected." Sanji said.

"They have a weird way of showing their surprise." Lumen said dryly.

"Either way… I guess we just wait for them to get over here so we can mess with them." Nami said with a grin.

"So, what do we do now?" Usopp asked as he kept on repairing the main mast.

"I'll go ask Crocus about the Log Pose, he can probably explain it better than the guy at the shop did." Nami said as she waved her Log Pose a bit.

"In that case I'll get started on lunch." Sanji said.

"And I'll be making sure Luffy stays away from the kitchen." Lumen said with a laugh, earning a grateful nod from Sanji.

Several minutes later, and the group was sitting on the coast, the main mast as repaired as it could be, Zoro finally awake, and Lumen restraining Luffy so he didn't eat everything on the table, especially not the whole Blue-fin Elephant Tuna that Sanji had cooked.

"Alright, so according to Crocus, the way the Log Pose works is that it registers the magnetic field of the island we're on before then pointing to the next location, the time it takes for a Log to register changes from one island to the next, sometimes it can take days, or even weeks, before it sets. As for this area specifically, there are several different paths we can take for the start of our journey, meaning we'll have to pick one and hope everything beyond goes well." Nami explained as they ate.

"Well, at least in that case we have a backup one in case the first breaks, but think it's possible for two Log Poses on the same island to end up pointing in different directions?" Lumen wondered as he held up the one the two weirdos had dropped.

"I doubt it, but I don't think Crocus could give us a proper answer, he said it's rare for people to have multiple ones on them in the first place." Nami said with a shrug.

"Speaking of which...what do you two want now?" Lumen chuckled, as the two weirdos had climbed ashore.

The two looked at each other before… "I have a request," the one wearing a crown said.

"We'd like to start with knowing who we're talking to," Nami said simply.

"I am Mr. 9 and this is Ms. Wednesday," the one with a crown said.

"...those have to be the most blatant codenames I've ever heard," Lumen deadpanned. "You sure we can trust someone who doesn't even give us their REAL names?"

"Maybe we should break their Log Pose just for that?" Nami mused with a grin, while Lumen held up their Log Pose, ready to throw it if she gave the word.

"Please don't!" the two agents of… whatever, bowed, begging them to keep the Log Pose safe.

"Well…" Lumen trailed off with a smirk "I'm sure we could be convinced to help… for the right price."

"Name your price!" Mr. 9 said, not realising his grave mistake.

Nami's grin grew wicked as she stepped up "So happy you could see things our way."

"Ooooh, you're in trouble," Lumen chuckled. "But since we're in agreement, what do you need?"

"We'd like you to help us go to Whiskey Peak. Its the town where we live," Mr. 9 said.

"And seeing as you need the Log Pose, that means it's in the Grand Line," Lumen nodded.

"That's correct, and since our boat was destroyed…" Ms. Wednesday nodded and trailed off…

"So you need our help," Usopp said. "But who the heck are you two to be going so far to kill a whale?"

"I am a king," Mr. 9 said.

"Liar," EVERYONE deadpanned.

"...I am afraid we cannot say. It is the rule!" Ms. Wednesday said.

"We did not really want to do this dirty work, but we had no choice!" Mr. 9 said.

"We're begging you! Please help us!" Ms. Wednesday pleaded.

"Sure." Luffy said immediately.

"BUT, you'll have to pay." Nami tacked on quickly, throwing Luffy a dirty look at giving such a fast answer.

"And trust me, you're going to regret asking for help from us." Lumen added with a grin, and Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday both swallowed thickly, realising they may have fucked up a bit.

It was too late to turn back though, as soon the day ended, with Crocus seeing the crew off with Laboon as they set out for Whiskey Peak.

"Maybe these kids were the ones we were waiting for… Roger…" Crocus said with a smile.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Not much in the way of battles this time, but we covered the Reverse Mountain arc, and had some fun with our favorite hidden princess.**

 **Next time, we're heading into Whiskey Peak, and gonna have some more surprises for you all.**

 **See you then!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Here's the next chapter now folks, which will have a few surprises for you guys, hope you'll find them interesting.**

 **Also, if any of you guys got the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, let me know what you think of it so far, I'm having a blast, just finished Spyro 1 at 120%!**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the show!**

* * *

"...I know you said it, but seriously. How did we go from sunny to snowy?!" Nami couldn't help but say as she looked out the window at the snow that was falling all around, Luffy and Usopp playing in it like a pair of big kids and were soon going into a snowball fight.

"Hey, its like me and Crocus said. Logic is dead in the Grand Line," Lumen shrugged. "At least this is the enjoyably cold kind of snow rather than the blistering cold that has us all huddled for warmth and freezing to death."

"Yeah, good call on using that sake to wake Zoro up when he went to sleep again by the way, I probably would have kicked his ass if he slept through this weird weather." Nami said with a sigh.

"And I would have helped, seriously, that moron sleeps too much." Lumen added with a shake of his head.

"WAY too much. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask, but what do the Candroids do? You mentioned them before I think?" Nami asked him.

"Well… think of them like little helper robots in the shape of animals, Taka is essentially a scout, same for Tako, though that one is also good when you have it in large numbers. Batta is essentially like a Transponder Snail, and can be perfect for trickery if you leave one in an area and use it to mess with your enemy. Denki Unagi is, much like Tako, better in a group, and can shock enemies it grabs onto. Gorilla is a sort of radar that, if I'm right, the Marines would have attuned to detect Cell Medals, meaning it could be also be used as a radar for Yummies." Lumen explained. "I think there were other models too, but I'm pretty sure those were the most common."

"And what other models are there?" Nami asked.

"Well, I heard there's a Tora Candroid, but the Vendor doesn't have it. And then there's the Kujaku Medal which can be used to transport small items, and probably works about the same as the Taka," he said, before putting the Candroid he'd purchased earlier on the table for emphasis. "And the last Candroid in the machine is this, the Shachi Candroid if I'm reading the label right. No idea what it does, but it probably has something to do with being used in the water," he hazarded a guess.

"That could be useful," Nami nodded.

"Speaking of which, be sure to keep checking the Log Pose. If there was one thing Dad drilled into my head about traveling the Grand Line. ALWAYS check the Log Pose, and only follow it," Lumen said, a bit of white lie in that it was his sister that had told him that, but Nami didn't need to know that.

"But I just checked the heading. We were…" Nami trailed off...and gasped when she saw where the needle was pointing now.

"Yeah...the Grand Line is THAT insane. Even if something seems calm, there's no guarantee its as it seems…" Lumen sighed as Nami burst out of the door and told everyone to turn the ship around, Lumen quickly grabbing the now repaired helm.

The frantic attempt to turn the ship around was soon made more difficult when the weather suddenly changed, going from snowy, to stormy, then suddenly sunny.

"What the heck is wrong with this ocean?!" Nami shouted frantically.

"This isn't even the hard part yet!" Lumen called from inside.

"THIS is the EASY part?!" Usopp demanded.

"This is the start of the first half of the Line! A half that is called 'Paradise' of all names!" Lumen shot back.

Usopp and Nami both paled considerably at that "This is 'Paradise'?" Nami muttered.

"He's not lying." Ms. Wednesday said from where she was put to work "The reason the entrance of the Grand Line is so hectic is because of the magnetic pulls of the various starting islands each interfering with each other enough that it makes the weather completely unpredictable, after that though, sailing through this area is Paradise… and then you pass the Red Line into what is known as the New World." she said nervously.

"...I'm afraid to ask, but how bad is the New World?" Nami asked flatly.

"They call this stretch 'Paradise'. That should give you a good enough estimate on how bad the New World is to this half," Ms. Wednesday said just as flatly.

"We're all gonna die!" Usopp wailed.

"Somebody put a sock in him dammit." Zoro grumbled as he came up from below deck.

"Iceberg approaching!" Luffy's voice brought them back to the situation at hand, and they all turned with their eyes wide at the incoming iceberg.

"Shit! Zoro, take over for me!" Lumen said as he ran up to the front of the ship, surprising Zoro who hurried back to the helm.

"What's he planning?" Mr. 9 muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Something good, that much we're sure of." Nami said, her worries dying down a bit.

Lumen pulled out the Medajalibur and loaded a single Cell Medal into it, figuring that it should be enough for an iceberg, before he passed the scanner over it.

" **SINGLE SCANNING CHARGE!"**

Raising the sword up a bit as it glowed, he waited just a moment, before bringing it down, seeing the attack start and naming it quickly "OOO Beamer!" and a blade of energy flew from the sword and at the iceberg. The blade of energy struck true, but seemingly vanished.

"...that didn't seem right," Lumen blinked...before a light was seen from the iceberg which promptly split in half and crumbled in on itself. "THAT's more like it," he chuckled. Right as a fog rolled in.

"The weather is trying to kill us!" Usopp shouted.

"EVERYTHING is trying to kill you in the Grand Line!" Ms. Wednesday shot back.

"Just be glad I managed to take out the iceberg or we'd be in DEEP trouble!" Lumen said as he went back to helping keep the ship steady.

Suddenly, Nami perked up "There's a strong wind coming… unfurl the sails!"

"Roger!" Usopp shouted as he had Luffy help him close the sails back up so they wouldn't overturn, which was easier said than done.

"Everyone! Eat up, we gotta keep up our strength! Sanji called as he brought out a huge plate of rice balls.

"Oi! The sail is tearing!" Zoro noticed quickly.

"Forget that, there's a leak in the hull!" Ms. Wednesday shouted as she came up from below deck.

"Shit! Zoro, take my spot!" Usopp shouted as he ran to grab his hammer and some wood.

"Goddamn freak weather!" Zoro said in aggravation as he started helping Luffy close the sails up, finally managing to do it after a bit more effort.

"This is insane!" Lumen shouted, before putting on the Driver and scanning the medals.

" **TAKA! UNAGI! CHEETAH!"**

With that, OOO was soon zipping all over the Merry, helping wherever he could, and using the parts he'd picked for higher mobility. The weather became worse and worse, and before long they were literally fighting through a storm….

* * *

"Is it finally over?" Usopp groaned pitifully.

"I think so…" Sanji said.

"If this is normal, then we might be in trouble…" Nami groaned.

"I'm not even able to fall back asleep right now." Zoro said with an annoyed growl.

"That should be the least of your worries." OOO said in deadpan. "How much further to Whiskey Peak?" even with the armor on this was pretty tiring.

"I think I see it." Luffy said from his special seat, squinting as he looked through the light fog.

"Hold on." Usopp groaned as he got up to join Luffy at the front, pulling his goggles down "Hey, you two. Is Whiskey Peak an island with gigantic cacti?"

"Cactus Rocks actually, but yes, that is correct." Mr. 9 said as he sat up.

"I hate the early parts of the Grand Line, this is why I wasn't too happy about getting that job." Ms. Wednesday muttered as she got up, blinking as Sanji was offering her his hand to help her to her feet completely, and accepting it after a moment "Thank you."

"I am always at your service, mademoiselle." Sanji said with a bow.

"Well, glad to see we made it then… still though, I feel like I heard those names of yours when I think about it more." Zoro said as he rounded on Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday, who both started looking pale "It wasn't those exact names, but I'm sure I've heard something similar to it before." he said, before turning, giving them one last look over his shoulder and grinning savagely "I wonder where this'll lead?"

That freaked them out enough that in a moment of fight or flight, they practically flew off the rails and looked ready to dive into the ocean… or they would have if not for OOO catching them by the midsection. "Ehhh...Nope. You two aren't getting away THAT easily."

"We still need to discuss your payment for riding on OUR ship after all." Nami added as she clapped the two on their shoulders with a smile that LOOKED kind… but they all knew better.

Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday looked at the face she was giving them...and slumped over in defeat. They weren't getting out of this at all.

Slowly, the ship entered Whiskey Peak through a canal, the fog still covering the area around them.

Usopp shivered as he looked around "Jeez, it almost feels like a monster could jump out at any moment."

"Well, we can just leave if there are any." Luffy said with a grin.

"We can't though, we need to wait for the Log to set remember?" Nami said, before looking down at their two… 'guests', whom were still wrapped by OOO's whips "Speaking of which, how long does it take for the Log to set here?"

"Just a day." Ms. Wednesday said in defeat.

"Well, that's not too bad." Zoro shrugged.

"Still though, I think I may have developed 'Can't-go-on-that-island-itis'." Usopp said, trying to act sick, not that anybody bought it.

"Whatever you say Usopp." OOO said in deadpan as he looked at the sniper, before looking through the fog, getting a clearer view thanks to the Taka helmet "I can see houses, and a few people starting to come out of them, seems most of them just woke up. Their just noticing us it seems."

"Are they acting hostile?" Sanji asked, ready to fight if need be.

"Doesn't look like it, their just watching right now, some have binoculars, they probably noticed we have a Jolly Roger because they seem to be spreading the word." OOO continued on.

"Anything we should worry about? Or should we give you some shock therapy?" Nami asked nonchalantly towards the two still tied up by whips.

The two paled a bit, before shaking their heads "Nothing at all, we swear!" Mr. 9 said nervously.

"Whiskey Peak welcomes pirates with open arms, it was made by outlaws you see." Ms. Wednesday added.

"That so?" Nami mused, before stepping up to the front of the ship and calling out into the fog "Hey! We caught two idiots from this town who tried to scam us and not pay for the free ride, so don't shoot us because we have them tied up!" she said, receiving a slightly hesitant "U-understood." a few seconds later "There, potential problem solved."

After she said that, the fog started to slowly lift, letting them see the town properly, letting them see all the townspeople, they looked a bit unsure, but still rather welcoming.

"Guess the welcoming committee is a bit confused." Zoro said with an amused look at the people.

"Welco-" a voice started, before clearing their throat, making them look to the shore to see a man with an interesting hairstyle, which looked less like actual hair and more like a big version of a powdered wig that judges would wear. The man was eyeing OOO for a moment, before he started speaking again "Ma-ma-ma~" scratch that, doing a vocal test "Welcome to Whiskey Peak, Pirates. You'll have to excuse our surprise, we didn't expect to see two of our friends tied up like such. But, nonetheless, I am Igarappoi, the mayor of this town. Might I ask what exactly happened between you and those two?"

"These two asked us to take them here, and there was the condition of payment, so Mr.9 said, and I quote 'Name your price!'. From there, our navigator has been holding it over their heads that they essentially agreed to whatever amount of money, jewels, gold or whatever she wants." OOO explained nonchalantly, but you could heard the smirk in his voice.

"Ah...well, I hope you will go easy on him. Until then, please feel free to join us in celebration. I am certain the people of this town would love to hear the many tales of your exploits," Igarappoi said with a slight sweat drop and friendly smile. Though inwardly he was thinking 'Goddammit, Mr. 9!'

"We would-" he continued but cut off when he coughed and cleared his throat. "Ma-ma-ma~" he intoned again, before continuing. "We would be delighted to hear all about them and share in our town's rich festivities."

"Well...that's very…" OOO started but…

"OUR PLEASURE!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji cut him off.

"...three stooges…" Nami deadpanned as the three hopped away in excitement.

"Uh...can you let us go now?" Ms. Wednesday asked...to which OOO retracted the whips, but in the process caused them to spin around like tops a little.

"Whoops. Sorry," OOO said sheepishly.

He didn't get a response, as Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday stumbled off of Merry dizzily, being helped by some of the others from town.

"I expect my payment by tomorrow morning by the way, at least 10 Million Berries!" Nami called after Mr. 9.

"That's too much!" he shouted in shock, before fainting in fear.

Zoro snorted as he walked off while muttering "Money hungry witch."

Nami glared at his back, before grinning "Can't wait to inform him of his debt."

"That's gonna be fun to watch." Lumen chuckled as he undid his transformation.

"Well… let's start the party I guess." she sighed, a somewhat reluctant smile on her face.

* * *

The party that was soon thrown was...lively. There was food, drink, and all around a merry atmosphere.

"Please enjoy this. It's our finest wine made from the grapes we grow here," Igarappoi said as he offered several tankards of the drink.

"The food is great!" came Luffy's voice as he was unsurprisingly stuffing himself at a nearby table.

And of course Sanji was having fun flirting with all the pretty girls around, while Usopp was regalling everyone with tales of his 'courageous exploits'. All in all...it was a good party. Then came the drinking contest that Lumen wisely decided to stay out of...and he couldn't help but gawk a bit when Nami ended up outlasting quite a few of the other contestants, Zoro included. Leaving that bit of info alone, he moved to take some food and a drink (it WAS light alcohol), and sat down to enjoy the party (Luffy was still eating like crazy). What he didn't expect, was Ms. Wednesday suddenly sitting down next to him.

He looked at her in confusion as he stopped halfway from eating a chicken leg "Why are you sitting with me?"

"Something wrong with that?" she shot back simply.

"Not really, more like I thought you would be still ticked at me considering what happened earlier." Lumen said with a shrug, not really caring either way.

Ms. Wednesday looked away at that "Yes well… business IS business I suppose."

"Fair enough." Lumen said with a shrug as he started eating, not minding that she was sitting next to him.

"So… how did you join the crew?" She asked after a moment, making him raise an eyebrow at her attempting small talk, but figured it couldn't hurt.

"They found me on a deserted island after I'd recovered some old artefacts, but my boat was dragged away by some dolphins, along with some scriptures I had found, so now that stuff is swimming somewhere at sea." he said with a shrug, using his cover story "When I showed off the armor, Luffy asked me to join, and honestly, I didn't have anything better to do, and figured sailing with pirates was a good chance at uncovering ruins or the like."

"So you're some kind of...archeologist?" Ms. Wednesday seemed a little surprised.

"Eh...in a sense. I'm more of an amateur really. Plus I've been focused mainly on the legends regarding the Multi-King," Lumen said.

"The Multi-King? Then...those items you have were objects from the fabled kingdom?" she asked in surprised.

"Oh? You know he's real? My friends thought he was a myth when we first met." Lumen asked in surprise.

"I've… heard there's some interesting stories about him in the kingdom of Alabasta." she said hesitantly.

"That's… a desert kingdom, right?" Lumen asked, thinking back on what his sister told him.

Ms. Wednesday simply nodded.

"Huh… neat." Lumen said, before shrugging "Might be nice to visit the place then, ask them for anything they know, maybe even ask if I could see any ruins in the area."

"Well...if you'd like maybe we could take you there," she offered.

"Huh… might just take you up on that offer… AFTER my friends are done of course. Where I go, they go and vice versa," he nodded with a grin.

That made Ms. Wednesday stiffen a little, but she nodded, before moving away a bit… and seemed to pull the mayor aside for something.

"Maybe he's her uncle or something and she's telling him?" he muttered, before shrugging "Meh, whatever." he said before going to sit next to Nami, who was about to drink against a nun "Yo, just got pointed to a nice place that might have ruins on OOO, it's called Alabasta."

"That so? Sounds interesting, I think I've heard of the place before, some sort of desert kingdom." Nami said, looking just a tiny bit tipsy.

Lumen gave her a long look, before looking at the nun… who was rather tall and if he was right seemed muscular "Someone gave her alcohol didn't they?"

The nun glanced away "We may have ran out of the non alcoholic beverages." she spoke, and her soft voice compared to her build made Lumen blink a few times.

"I see… well, don't kill your liver Nami, we wouldn't want to lose the best navigator in the world." Lumen said with a chuckle as he stood up and patted the redhead on the shoulder.

"No promises, but thanks for caring." Nami said with a laugh as she slapped him on the back.

The party continued on for hours and before long, everyone was pretty much passed out from a mix of exhaustion, the party atmosphere...and maybe a couple of food comas. With the crew seemingly all out, the people from the party started slowly shuffling about, careful not to wake them.

After a few minutes, Zoro twitched a bit, and soon opened his eyes. Looking around, he noticed that he wasn't the only one who was rousing. Nami wiped her eyes a bit, while Lumen got some kinks out of his neck.

"Guess I wasn't the only one who thought something seemed...off," Lumen mused.

"Well, they WERE adding more alcohol as we went," Nami commented.

"Though...looks like we're the only ones who caught on," Zoro said flatly, before looking to the side...where the three stooges were out like lights.

"So...any ideas on how to get ourselves out of this fine little mess, or do we just go for the standard bashing heads in until we get out?" Lumen asked flatly.

"Mind if I have a go at this? I have an idea of what's going on." Zoro requested as he cracked his neck "Plus, I still gotta test out my new swords." he added with a savage grin.

"Fine, whatever you musclehead, Lumen and I will start looting the place dry." Nami said and waved him off.

"And while we're at it, we might as well bring these three back to the Merry and get ready to hightail it out of here ASAP," Lumen added.

"Fair enough, I heard you mention something about an Alabasta earlier as well?" Zoro checked.

"Right, we should look and see if Ms. Wednesday was serious about that." Lumen nodded.

"I'm sure we can convince her." Nami said with a smirk.

"Heh, well, I'll leave that to you two. Make sure to get these three out before the 'fun' starts," Zoro smirked.

"We'll be sure to do that considering your idea of fun," Lumen sweat dropped, and with that said, Zoro snuck outside, while Lumen and Nami started quietly dragging Sanji, Usopp and the overstuffed Luffy back to the ship (Lumen might be complaining slightly about dragging Luffy, but he supposed the idiot was too heavy for Nami in his current state).

Looting the place wasn't THAT difficult...especially when they had Nami. The only hassle was making sure they weren't seen by anyone who hadn't emptied out the place.

Dragging the three out was...more annoying than difficult. The hardest was really dragging Luffy's overstuffed form, and worse, he couldn't use the OOO armor, seeing as the Driver didn't have a 'mute' button on it. Any attempt to transform would attract everyone nearby.

"You know, why DOES that thing shout out your every form and combination?" Nami couldn't help but ask as she hefted a bag over her shoulders...while dragging Usopp along.

"Beats me, but trust me, I've heard worse." Lumen said, thinking of Fourze, Wizard, and Build specifically, those drivers were pretty noisy compared to his. "I'm just glad Zoro is drawing their attention," Lumen sighed...before a hapless bounty hunter was sent flying and landed in a nearby barrel, completely unconscious. "...though I feel like I should be sorry for these guys even when they tried to ambush us…" he sweat dropped.

The two of them continued onward, grabbing a few things they could while dragging the STILL unconscious trio along, until they entered a seemingly empty street. Or it WAS empty before a curtain curly haired 'mayor' and a blue haired woman entered the street. Normally this would have been cause for alarm, but the immediate sense of danger was slightly dampened by…

"...is that a giant duck?" Lumen deadpanned, noticing the large, big enough for someone to ride on, duck that was following them.

Ms. Wednesday blinked in surprise at seeing them, before sighing in relief "So that's where you were, good to see you were alright, we had wondered why you weren't in the house anymore."

"You're relieved to see us ok?" Nami asked in confusion.

Igarappoi stepped forward. "I know you have no reason to trust us, but please listen to me when I say we are not your enemies...or rather we have no desire to be so," he said.

"You're right. We don't have a reason to trust you. So start talking. Fast," Lumen glared, already loading 3 Cell Medals into the Medajalibur. Sure he wasn't going to actually use the OOO Bash on people but well...still good for a bluff.

"Alright. The truth is, both of us are spies infiltrating this organization, Baroque Works," Ms. Wednesday said.

"And you're doing that why?" Nami frowned.

"Because they are stoking a civil war in our home country!" Ms. Wednesday said. "We had to pretend to be part of the organization, even work our way up the ranks, all so we could uncover the identity of the leader of Baroque Works and with it, hopefully end the civil war they started before things reach a point of no return."

"Then… you haven't heard about the stories of OOO from Alabasta, you ARE from Alabasta, aren't you?" Lumen realised.

"You are correct. Allow me to re-introduce myself. My name is Igaram. I am the captain of the royal guards of Alabasta," Igaram said. "And this is Princess Nefertari Vivi, heir to the throne of Alabasta," he said, gesturing to Ms. Wednesday, or rather Vivi.

"...okay...that just escalated…" Lumen blinked in surprise. "Though...legends aside, why DID you want our, or rather, my help?"

"Well...the truth is...our Kingdom has a bit of history with that armor. The wielder of that armor was a great ally to our Kingdom in the past, and I had hoped that perhaps it could be so again," Vivi admitted.

"Well...looks like we just got more reasons to go to Alabasta," Lumen blinked.

"No kidding, if that wasn't a clue to the truth of OOO, then I don't know what is," Nami blinked as well. However, before there could be any further conversation…

A rather… annoyingly distinct… laugh caught their attention, to which they turned to see a pair of figures standing on a nearby roof.

One was a man wearing a dark coat with the number 5 on it, his frizzy hair all over the place while shades covered his eyes, while the other was a woman wearing a short dress with lemons printed on it, a hat that looked like a lemon, and was holding a white parasol in her hands, she had short blonde hair peeking out from underneath her hat, and was likely the one that had laughed.

"Well, thanks for confirming to us who our targets are." the man said.

The woman laughed again "No kidding, who would have thought you'd just blab about it like that!"

"Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine!" Vivi gasped in shock.

"More members of the organization?" Lumen checked, already going for the Driver.

"And looks like a few rats are here too," Mr. 5 mused.

"How unfortunate for them, guess we'll have to eliminate them too!" Ms. Valentine laughed.

"Guess there's no choice," Lumen frowned, strapping the OOO Driver on. "So much for our clean escape. Henshin!"

" **TAKA! TORA! BATTA! TA-TO-BA! TATOBA, TATOBA!"**

"Hope you two are ready for a chimera, because I doubt you're lucky enough." OOO said as he flipped out the Tora claws.

"You honestly think you can beat us? Don't be ridiculous!" Ms. Valentine laughed, before she literally started floating up into the air with her parasol.

"Don't think some fancy armor can help you beat us," Mr. 5 agreed, before...picking his nose.

"Seriously?" OOO deadpanned...until Mr. 5 flicked the booger at him, to which he quickly dodged, cause he'd learned by now. In the Grand Line, do NOT assume anything is as it looked. True enough, the booger exploded where it hit. "Okay, first, ewww… and second, Devil Fruit?"

"Heh, someone's smart. That's right. I ate the Bomb-Bomb Fruit! I can make any part of my body into a bomb!" Mr. 5 smirked.

"And don't forget about me!" Ms. Valentine smirked as she closed her parasol...and came crashing down on the ground, forcing him to roll out of the way before she left a crater there. "Like it? Its my Kilo-Kilo Fruit! I can increase and decrease my weight by Kilos at will!" she laughed.

"Geee...thanks for telling me everything you can do," OOO smirked, inwardly thanking the anime-character habit of literally telling their enemy everything they can do.

Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine both stopped at that, before their faces morphed into mixtures of anger, annoyance, and 'oh shit I just fucked up didn't I?'.

"Now then…" OOO smirked before switching medals. " **TAKA! GORILLA! CHEETAH!"**

The moment the shift finished, OOO zoomed forward, delivering a strong punch onto Mr. 5, who barely had time to react before he was flung back, though he DID manage to cause an explosion, which pushed OOO back, but the sturdy Gorilla arms protected him well enough.

"Bastard!" Ms. Valentine growled, going for a drop kick...only to be blocked by the Gorilla arms again.

"Got a better idea?" OOO smirked.

Ms. Valentine gulped a bit, before she floated away, well out of reach. "Well, I'd like to see you get me here!" she smirked.

"Okay, you asked for it! Bagoon Pressure!" he shouted while pointing his arms at her… and then the gauntlets literally flew off towards her like rockets.

Gasping in shock, Ms. Valentine suddenly dropped, causing the attack to sail right over her head, and all the way up to Cactus Rock. The impact was visible from where they were standing, resulting in a HUGE sweat drop from Ms. Valentine, QUITE glad that didn't hit her.

"Well...that was...unpleasant," came Mr. 5's voice as he painfully picked himself up from where he'd ended up. "But looks like you just threw your weapons away," he smirked.

"Did you SERIOUSLY think I'd have done that if that was it?" OOO deadpanned, before something could be heard flying back, and soon reattached to his arms...and OOO felt something extra in his hand. "...oh you guys are in a ton of trouble," he smirked when he opened his hand, to find a dark grey Core Medal depicting the face of an elephant. Not wasting any time, he switched out the Cheetah Medal for the Zou medal, and at the same time switched the Taka Medal with the Kuwagata Medal and scanned. " **KUWAGATA! GORILLA! ZOU!"** The new legs were a dark grey in color, almost black in fact, and depicted elephant faces on the knees, with the feet themselves being somewhat heavily armored.

OOO lifted a foot, and began stomping about, causing the entire island to shake from the earthquakes being generated.

"He can do THAT?!" Mr. 5 shouted, as he tried to maintain balance, but being so close to the source of the Earthquakes...yeah...not happening. It was so bad he couldn't even turn any of his body parts into bombs of fear of triggering them incorrectly.

"Good thing I'm not affected!" Ms. Valentine smirked as she was flying again...only to be hit by a lightning bolt from the Kuwagata head, causing her to light up like a christmas tree and fall back to the ground.

"Now then, let's not prolong this more than necessary," OOO said, before scanning the medals again. " **SCANNING CHARGE!"**

OOO stood still as he slowly levitated upwards, before coming down with a crash, causing the ground to break and travel towards the two. When it reached them, they found themselves trapped in the ground. Once they were secured, lightning danced from the Kuwagata head, and permeated the arms. Charing forward, OOO went straight for the two hapless agents, his arms covered in lightning. "Lightning Lariat!" OOO called out as he caught both of them by the chest, using his right arm, knocking the wind out of their lungs, and sending them flying into the air...to which they were soon a twinkle in the night sky.

"Huh… bit stronger than I thought… that or their weaker than the armor… bit of both maybe." OOO mused.

Vivi stared with wide eyes at OOO, unable to believe what she just saw "He… he just… sent Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine flying… like they were nothing…"

"So, judging by how those two were sent to eliminate you… the lower the number, the stronger they are?" Nami ventured a guess, earning a nod from Igaram.

"Correct, the princess and myself were a bit low on the list, even if we were in the single digits." he answered, looking at the sky where Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine had disappeared.

"But to think...we knew the legendary armor was powerful, but to make people like them seem almost like insects in comparison…" Vivi still seemed to be in mild shock.

"Well...it helped they told me what they could do, and I had the Medals to counter them. Heck, I didn't think I'd find ANOTHER Medal here of all places," OOO chuckled as he reverted to Lumen. "Question is...what do we do now? These three are STILL asleep, and Zoro is busy…" he trailed off as a small storm kicked up, and several bounty hunters were sent flying a ways away. "...he's busy making mince meat out of your other members," he finished with a deadpan tone.

"Yes, well… honestly we were only friends with Ms. Monday and Mr. 9, and I'm sure those two will be smart enough to stay down, so we aren't worrying." Igaram stated "For now-" he said, before clearing his throat "Ma ma ma! For now we should get your friends back to your ship while we await the arrival of the swordsman."

"Highly doubtful," came a familiar voice.

"Oh no…" Lumen groaned, as they all turned to the source of the voice and saw Uva sitting on a roof a few feet away from them. Snapping his fingers, an army of what appeared to be dirty Yummies walked up behind him and out from the alleys, their bodies covered in dark brown cloth, and a single glassy looking eye in the middle of their faces.

"W-what are these creatures?!" Igaram said in alarm.

"Trash Yummies," Lumen frowned, before looking at Uva. "Pretty daring of you to use this many Cell Medals at once."

"A small price to pay if it lets me make an army of Yummies from the bounty hunters on this island!" Uva laughed.

"I don't fully understand, but I can tell you have evil intentions. I will stop them! Igarappappa!" he called out, pulling on his necktie strings to reveal guns in his hair, which fired at an insane rate, completely covering the Trash Yummies in gunfire. The smoke covered the area for a moment...before the Yummies walked out, completely fine. "Impossible…!" Igaram gasped.

"Trash Yummies are weak, but they're durable," Lumen growled, before he quickly scanned the OOO Driver which was still on his waist. " **KUWAGATA! GORILLA! ZOU!"**

"I knew you'd do that, hence why I had something special ready," Uva smirked, before throwing several Cell Medals, which glowed green for a moment before he threw them at the shambling Yummies. Several Trash Yummies absorbed them, to which they soon started to shift, standing more upright, and even gaining familiar arm and chest armor. "Now then...get him," Uva said simply, to which the Trash Yummies charged forward.

"Get back to the ship! These aren't enemies we can fight just like that!" OOO warned.

"But we can't leave you to fight them all alone!" Vivi said, before reaching into her clothes and pulling out what appeared to be a pair of sharp jewels on wires, which she soon spun around after hooking them on her pinky fingers, making for a rather sharp weapon. These were her Peacock Slashers. "Let's go, Carue!" she called out, the duck letting out a loud quack as it jumped into the fray with her. However...they soon found the problems with this 'plan', namely how the slasher failed to pierce the skin of the Yummies, and even when Carue kicked them hard, they bounced back from the blows.

"Okay...maybe that wasn't such a smart idea…" Vivi admitted.

"Ya think?" OOO growled as he was in the fray, knocking Trash Yummies after Trash Yummies aside, but they kept getting back up.

"You can't SERIOUSLY want to fight all these by yourself!" Nami shouted as she knocked a Trash Yummy with her staff. It only flinched a bit, but soon got back to lumbering towards her.

"She's right, OOO! Give it up, you can't win!" Uva laughed, before he jumped down, and started to shift, now his chest gaining the insect armor along with his arms.

OOO saw that and gulped a bit. Yeah, this was getting dire. At this rate, they'd need an army to fight back. THAT was when it hit him.

"Welp… time for a dumb thing that'll save our asses." OOO said, a bit of reluctance in his voice as he grabbed two medals from the holder on his belt.

"You have an idea?" Nami asked hopefully.

"A really stupid one… fight an army with an army." he said as he took out the Gorilla and Zou medals, switching them out for Kamakiri and Batta, the trio of green medals glowing a bit as they were all in the Driver together. Grabbing the scanner, he only hesitated for a moment, before passing it over the medals. " **KUWAGATA! KAMAKIRI! BATTA! GA~TA-GATA-GATA-KIRI, BA! GATAKIRIBA!"**

 **(Play: Got to Keep it Real)**

OOO let out a roar as he let out a small burst of energy, feeling like his entire being was stronger than it had ever been. Was this what it felt like to use a Full Combo? If yes then he could see why they were so hard to control. Wasting no time, he looked towards Uva and his army and ran forward, energy crackling over him before he split into 2, which then split into 4, then 8, and so on till an entire army of OOOs were present.

"This is… amazing…" Vivi said in awe as she watched the army of OOO run towards the Trash Yummies and Uva.

"The armor is truly as powerful as the stories say." Igaram added, feeling just as much awe as the princess.

"Yeah… but… I remember him saying a Full Combo would tire him out faster than a Random Combo… I hope he doesn't do anything too stupid." Nami said with a frown, before she looked at their new allies "We should get the crew back to the Merry now, while we have the chance, he should be able to take care of himself."

"Very well, I just hope you're not wrong." Vivi said with a frown, before they loaded Sanji onto Carue, while she and Nami dragged Usopp and Igaram handled Luffy.

Back with the fight, OOO was...greatly pushing back the Trash Yummies. They may have been durable, but against a Full Combo, the normal ones didn't stand a chance as they were cut apart or blasted with electricity.

Uva growled. "You...so you had three of my medals this whole time!" he growled, recognizing the power as what should be his.

"Yeahp. Sucks to be you," OOO smirked a bit, before they all began to cut through the army, the regular Trash Yummies being decimated, leaving a few left and most of the stronger ones , but overall it seemed that they just didn't have the power to take on an army of Full Combos.

Uva however didn't sit still and fought as well, managing to knock several of the OOOs back, but more kept coming and before long, Uva found himself being overwhelmed, the OOOs slashing away the Greeed, causing Cell Medals to fly out of him. Eventually…

"Time to end this!" OOO declared as they all scanned their drivers. " **SCANNING CHARGE!"**

The OOO as a whole jumped into the air, and started raining down on the Greeed with a combined shout of "Gatakiriba Kick!". However, at the last minute, the remaining Yummies converged and blocked their master, taking the brunt of the hit and exploding into a shower of broken Cell Medals.

Seeing his army decimated and he himself badly weakened, Uva spared one last glare at OOO, before he soon jumped away, retreating from the fight.

 **(theme end)**

All of OOO's copies returned to him after that, while he looked at where Uva had ran from, before turning around as he heard someone walk up to him, relaxing when he saw it was Zoro "You're done too?"

"Yeah, looks like I missed one hell of a party over here." Zoro said with a smirk, having barely seen the end of the fight.

"Well, looks like you're still full of energy. That's good," OOO noted.

"Hm? Why is that?" Zoro blinked.

"Because I'm about to fall over in exhaustion in like a few seconds. Drag me back to the ship please," OOO said simply as he undid the transformation, and Lumen promptly fell over, Zoro managing to catch him before he actually hit the ground.

The green haired swordsman blinked several times in confusion "Is… this what it's gonna be like every time he uses a Full Combo?" he said, before sighing as he started on bringing Lumen back to the ship.

* * *

Lumen groaned as he… well… he was in a really uncomfortable spot for a guy who should be waking up in their own ship. The answer came to him when he woke up...and found out he was hefted over Zoro's shoulder. "...was I really only out for a minute or two?" he blinked.

"Oh, you're awake. Good, and no, you've been out for nearly an hour," Zoro said.

"Nearly an hour? Why aren't we already on the ship?" Lumen blinked...before he remembered one KEY detail about Zoro's character. "...you DO know where the ship is, right?" he asked flatly.

"Of course, we left it by the water," Zoro nodded.

"...why are we walking towards Cactus Rock then?" Lumen deadpanned.

"Wait what? How'd we get back here again?" Zoro blinked, as this was the third time already he'd walked by this place.

"...hey Zoro, out of morbid curiosity, does the name 'Hibiki Ryoga', ring any bells?" Lumen asked.

"You mean a kid in yellow, carries an umbrella and wears a headband? Oh, and turns into a piglet whenever he gets hit with cold water?" Zoro blinked. "Yeah, I know the guy. Ran into him a few times in the past. Kept shouting about how he wants to kill someone named 'Ranma'," Zoro shrugged. "Why? He a friend of yours?"

"... yeah, let's go with that," Lumen said flatly, face palming when he realized Zoro's lack of direction actually transcended time and space, enough so that he'd actually met ANOTHER character with equally bad direction sense… from another universe altogether. "Just...let me down. I'll get us back to the ship," he sighed, to which Zoro put him down and they started walking to the ship...with Lumen having to pull him along every so often.

When they finally got to the ship…

"Where the hell have you been?! We were worried sick about you idiots!" Nami raged at them, preparing to punch them both, and just about losing faith in Lumen for not being an idiot like the others.

"This idiot got lost while carrying me after I passed out from the Full Combo, and I only woke up five minutes ago." Lumen said dryly as he pointed at Zoro.

"You're forgiven then." Nami told Lumen, before rounding on Zoro "As for you…" she said darkly.

"What the hell is the problem, witch?!" Zoro grunted, not at all fazed by her anger.

"The problem? The problem, is that we need to hightail it to Alabasta this last Sunday! We're getting a princess back home! Oh sure, we're being paid for it, but the situation is bad enough that I'm giving them a discount for what my rates would normally be!" Nami raged at him, while Lumen decided to leave Zoro to his fate and went to check on Vivi, who had changed in the last hour of waiting, now wearing one of Nami's shirts and had relaxed her hair, letting some bangs frame her face.

"So, how's things looking?" He asked her as he sat next to her on the stairs.

"Promising, your cook and sniper are still asleep, but the captain is awake, Ms. Nami had him go do a count of supplies below deck to make sure nothing was taken, though she had to simplify it to just counting the crates and barrels." Vivi answered while Carue was sitting down just a bit in front of her and looking out at the water.

"What about Igaram?" Lumen wondered.

"He said he'd be preparing something to help me escape easier, not believing for a second that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine are the only ones here." Vivi said, a frown of concern on her face.

"I'm sure he knows what he's doing. You don't become captain of the royal guards by being an idiot, right?" Lumen said encouragingly.

"That's true," Vivi nodded, smiling a little.

"Look, all I'm saying is, what's our obligation to help her?!" Zoro shouted, earning their attention, though Vivi sighed, figuring he was talking about her.

Nami glared at Zoro for a moment longer, before grinning evilly "Well then, I guess you aren't a man able to keep his promise after all."

Zoro bristled at that "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You owe me Zoro, in Loguetown, I lent you 100 000 for your katana." Nami said matter of factly.

"Yeah, but I gave it all back to you, I got my swords for free." Zoro said, wondering what was wrong with her.

Nami's grin became absolutely devilish at that "Ah, but you see, I have an interest rate, three times the loaned amount."

Zoro looked somewhat annoyed "You never mentioned that."

"I did, I just whispered it so low you didn't hear it." Nami said matter of factly.

"That shouldn't count you damn witch!" Zoro raged at her.

"Then I guess I was right, you can't keep your promises after all." she said with a grand sigh, and Zoro's face was an mixture of rage and 'goddammit that's my weak spot!'.

"If you do what I say, we'll call it even." Nami said with a grin.

"I hope you die a horrible and bloody death." Zoro said through grit teeth.

"Yeahp, I'm going straight to hell." Nami said brightly.

"Dammit!" Zoro shouted as he went into one of the rooms of the Merry to look for his equipment, needing to cool off.

"Whelp, looks like we're going to Alabasta then," Lumen said cheerfully. "The only question is...when do we go? After Igaram gets back?"

As if on cue, "I have returned, your majesty!" came Igaram's voice.

"Oh cool, what were yo- MY EYES!" Lumen suddenly shouted as he fell to the ground, clutching at his eyeballs in agony. "IT BURNS! CAN'T UNSEE THE HORROR!"

"What's the pro- DEAR LORD WHAT IS THAT?!" Zoro shouted as he poked his head back out and pointed at Igaram.

"Hey, what's with all the shou- AHHHH! UGLY MONSTER!" Luffy added in as he came up from below deck (his body had also slimmed down by now).

"I WANT to punch them for shouting… but I can't help but agree with them either." Nami groaned as she covered her eyes.

"Igaram…" Vivi sighed in exasperation "Just… why?"

The reason for all the commotion?

Igaram was dressed just like Vivi was as Miss Wednesday… and it was horrifying to look at honestly.

"Isn't it obvious? It's not safe if you remain here, so while you escape, I will be your body double," Igaram said.

"WHO THE HELL WOULD BE FOOLED BY THAT?!" the conscious crew members (minus Luffy) roared, though none of them were opening their eyes. They did not feel like subjecting themselves to that horror again.

"That is besides the point," Igaram said. "For now I entrust the princess with all of you. Please bring her back to Alabasta safely."

"But what about you, Igaram?! We can't leave you!" Vivi shouted.

"Fear not princess, I will return to Alabasta another way! We will meet again for sure!" he said with a smile.

"I still think the outfit is a dumb idea." Lumen muttered.

"But...before we go, I gotta ask. Who ARE we fighting against? Who is leading Baroque Works?" Nami asked.

"Right, you have a right to know," Igaram nodded. "The leader of Baroque Works is Codenamed Mr. 0, but his real name… is that of one of the seven Warlords of the Sea, Sir. Crocodile!"

"Crocodile… so that's the guy responsible for all this," Lumen frowned… before noticing something. "Hey… are vultures and otters common around these parts?"

Vivi suddenly paled at his question, before looking where he was and seeing an otter in a strange outfit and a vulture with an aviator hat, both of them wearing sunglasses, and the otter sketching something on a notepad, soon revealing to have sketched the faces of Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Lumen, before hopping onto the Vulture and flying away.

"Uh… ok, even I'm confused." Luffy said, tilting his head in confusion.

"Those… those were the Unluckies… Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday… they report directly to Crocodile." Vivi said fearfully.

"So we're on the death list of a Royal Warlord now huh? Should be interesting." Zoro said with a smirk.

"Oh my god we're all gonna die." Nami said somberly as she sulked in a corner, Lumen patting her back consolingly.

"Well...if it wasn't imperative you leave before, then it is now," Igaram frowned.

Vivi frowned, not liking this plan, but as it was, there was no choice. "Alright. We'll go ahead first, but before we do, here," Vivi said as she pulled out what looked like an hourglass of some kind, but the glass in the center was that of a Log Pose, and on the top was the word 'Alabasta'. "Take my Eternal Pose. That way no matter where you are, you can return first chance you get."

"Thank you, Princess. May we see each other again soon," Igaram smiled as he took the Eternal Pose, and soon the Going Merry was sailing away from the port.

"Oi! What's going on?! Why are we leaving?!" Sanji asked as he woke up soon enough.

"Yeah! This island is awesome! Let's stay another day!" Usopp added in as he woke up too.

"Oh great." Nami groused as she was ready to bash their skulls in.

"Hold on." Lumen said and stepped up to the two "This place was a bounty hunter trap and all of the women save for Ms. Wednesday were ugly men in disguise trying to kill us."

"Good riddance to this island." Usopp and Sanji suddenly said at the same time.

"Damn that was easy." Zoro muttered.

Before anything could be said, they all suddenly heard an explosion, rushing to the back of the ship to see flames over the water at the entrance of town.

"That… that was Igaram! The ship was in that area! They're already here!" Vivi shouted in fear and anger.

"Jesus christ they are right on point aren't they?" Lumen muttered with wide eyes.

"We… we have to go save him! He could still be alive!" Vivi said as she tried to jump off of Merry.

"Hold on there princess!" Nami said as she held onto Vivi, preventing her from jumping into the water.

"Let me go! I have to help him!" Vivi tried to struggle free.

"And you know as well as I do he'd want you to get out of here and live!" Nami shot back, Vivi's struggling slowly dying down as they brought her back to the front, where she tried to hold back her tears.

"Let's go, he was a good man, and we won't let his sacrifice be for nothing." Luffy said seriously as his hat shadowed his eyes.

"You got it captain." Lumen and Zoro said, nodding.

"I don't fully get what's going on, but I'm in." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.

"Same here! Even if that was scary as all hell!" Usopp added, his legs shaking a bit.

The ship continued to sail away from Whiskey Peaks, but as they did, a fog rolled in as dawn approached.

"Well...that's not really helpful," Lumen sighed. "Just glad the Log Pose already realigned."

"Yeah, it was lucky the Log Pose only needed a day to record the magnetic field of the island," Nami nodded.

"And at least with this fog, we should be able to get away," Vivi sighed.

"We also need to be careful not to crash the ship into any of the rocks," a feminine voice said.

"Leave that to me," Nami said with a confident smile...before she stiffened. "Uh...was that you, Luffy?"

"No it was not," Lumen said, already looking to the source of the voice. The others soon followed his gaze...and saw a new person sitting on the railings.

"This is certainly a nice ship," she commented.

The woman had tan skin, and piercing blue eyes, wearing a cowgirl style outfit along with a hat, all in purple, her straight black hair falling to her shoulder blades.

"You're…!" Vivi gasped in shock and fear.

The woman smirked a bit at that. "I ran into Mr. 8 earlier, Ms. Wednesday," she said.

The meaning behind that and what they'd seen was pretty obvious. "You killed Igaram!" Vivi glared.

"Who cares about that!" Luffy suddenly said. "What are you doing on this ship?! Who are you?!"

"What are you doing here...Ms. All Sunday!" Vivi demanded.

"That sounds important," Lumen frowned. "Who's she partnered with?"

"Her partner is… Mr. 0, Crocodile himself!" Vivi revealed.

"Wait, what?! The right hand woman is right in front of us?!" he gasped in alarm.

"Is she bad?" Luffy asked. Everyone more or less ignored him on account of being more focused on the massive elephant in the room.

"She's the only person who knew Mr. 0's identity, even the Unluckies report to him through Transponder Snail or mail at best. We found out who he is by trailing her!" Vivi explained.

"More accurately… I allowed you to follow me." Ms. All Sunday said with a smile.

"Smart enemies are always a pain." Lumen muttered with a twitching eyebrow, knowing she wouldn't be easy to take down if she had let Vivi and Igaram tail her and didn't give anything away.

"So, she's a good guy then, right?" Luffy said, but again, no one paid attention to him.

"I'm aware you let us follow you! I suppose you're also the one who told Crocodile we discovered his identity, right?!" Vivi accused.

"Correct." Ms. All Sunday answered nonchalantly.

"So she IS bad then." Luffy muttered with an annoyed look.

"Just shut up you idiot." Zoro told him with a sweat drop.

"What exactly is it you're trying to do?!" Vivi demanded.

Ms. All Sunday frowned a bit at that. "Good question. You were all so serious and intent that I ended up finding myself helping out."

"Great...we got a whimsical enemy. Those are always confusing," Lumen groaned.

"The idea of a princess trying so hard to save her kingdom that she'd infiltrate Baroque Works herself, while also making herself its enemy...it was all so ridiculous you see…" Ms. All Sunday said in amusement.

"Don't you dare mock me!" Vivi shouted, as everyone was at the ready to fight, Sanji holding a gun to Ms. All Sunday's head, Usopp readying his slingshot, Zoro about to draw his sword, Nami's staff ready, Lumen strapping on his Driver, and Luffy ready to throw a punch.

"Hey, Sanji, you know what you're doing right now, yeah?" Usopp asked while keeping his eyes on Ms. All Sunday.

"Yeah, pains me to do it, but I know I have to." Sanji answered, keeping the gun pointed at her head.

Ms. All Sunday glanced between the two of them, before closing her eyes with a sigh "I'd appreciate if you didn't point those at me." she said, and suddenly the two of them were flipped over and their weapons were tossed aside.

At the same time, Nami had her staff slapped out of her hand by something, the same with Zoro's swords, being sent to the floor.

"A Devil Fruit?!" Vivi gasped in realisation.

"Which one does she have though?" Lumen wondered, at the same time curious as to why she hadn't made him drop the Driver.

Then Ms. All Sunday looked at him, and smiled as she glanced at the Driver "I see… someone finally did something with the legend of the Multi-King. It's certainly interesting to meet the new OOO in the flesh." she said, and suddenly a coin was flipped at him from out of nowhere, catching it at the last second, letting him see it was in fact a Core Medal, orange in color, depicting a turtle on it.

"Kame Medal… how did you find this?" Lumen asked with a frown, keeping a good grip on the medal after he made sure it was the real one.

"I came across it a long time ago, I figured you might make things interesting if you held onto it." she said simply.

"Oookay, thanks for the Medal, but again, why?" Lumen asked.

"I figured it'd make more sense for the one holding the armor to have it. At any rate, no need to be so hasty. I've not received any orders," Ms. All Sunday said simply. "I have no reason to fight you." she added, before Luffy's hat suddenly went flying off his head and into her head "So, you're the straw hat captain I've heard so much about. To think you'd have such an interesting crew as well, a former bounty hunter, and a legend from ages past." she said as her eyes went to both Zoro and Lumen. "Monkey D. Luffy… yours is an interesting family from what little I know of that name."

"Hey! Gimme my hat back! You trying to start a fight?!" Luffy raged, not really paying attention to what she was saying.

"If she WAS aiming for a fight, I think she'd have done more than just disarm us," Lumen pointed out. "But I agree on what DO you want? Unless you came here just to mess with us."

Ms. All Sunday chuckled at that. "Well, I suppose I wanted to take a look before things played out. After all, it's truly unfortunate that you all picked a fight with Baroque Works," she chuckled. "What's even more unfortunate...is the island your Log Pose is pointing to. Without even doing a thing, you've already been wiped out."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro frowned.

"The Island you're heading to next is called 'Little Garden'. You're going to be wiped out before you even reach Alabasta," she chuckled.

"Will not! Give me my hat back!" Luffy shouted.

"You wish! You big dummy!" Usopp shouted from behind the mast.

"What are you, a kid?" Zoro deadpanned at the sniper.

"Don't you think letting yourselves get wiped out is a bit stupid?" Ms. All Sunday chuckled as she tossed Luffy his hat back, and something to Vivi, which revealed to be an Eternal Pose. "The least I can do is offer you an alternative route. That Eternal Pose will bring you to an island not far from Alabasta, 'Nothing At All Island'. At the very least you can avoid Little Garden, and none of our employees know that course, so nobody will chase you," she explained.

Vivi looked down at the Eternal Pose in contemplation for a moment, before looking back at Ms. All Sunday "Why are you doing this?"

"It's obviously a trap." Zoro said.

"What if it isn't though?" Lumen shot back with a frown, looking back at the Kame Medal in his hand.

"I wonder which it is?" Ms. All Sunday said with a smile on her face, not being helpful at all.

Vivi grit her teeth at the words, trying to think about what she should do, not noticing someone was walking towards her till the Eternal Pose was taken out of her hand by Luffy.

"Who gives a crap about that stuff?!" he said, and began to squeeze.

Lumen's eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen. "No Luffy, don't-!" too late as Luffy had crushed the Eternal Pose in his hand. The next thing he knew, he'd buried his fist into Luffy's face, at the same time Nami did with her leg.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!" they both roared. At the same time, though Lumen had more to say. "DO YOU EVER STOP AND THINK MORE THAN ONE STEP AHEAD?! WE COULD HAVE USED THAT AS A BACKUP PLAN!"

"He's right! She just gave us an easier path! What if it was actually NOT a trap!" Nami agreed.

Luffy looked at them for a moment...before looking at Ms. All Sunday. "You're not the one who decides this ship's course!" he said.

Lumen leveled a stare that could dry an ocean at their captain, before turning around and walking away, muttering about how he'd love to punt Luffy to the moon right now for that stunt.

Luffy looked at Ms. All Sunday again. "She blew up the old tube haired guy. I hate her for that," he said, to which Vivi blinked a bit, not QUITE expecting a reaction like that.

Ms. All Sunday looked at him...and chuckled slightly. "Well that's too bad. I don't hate high spirited people," she said as she walked to the edge of the Merry. "If you survive, let's meet again."

"No!" Luffy shot back.

Ms. All Sunday just chuckled and jumped off the railing, landing on a giant turtle. "Let's go, Bunchi!" she said as the turtle soon swam off.

"Now that is one HUGE turtle." Lumen said, blinking a few times, before looking back at his new medal "Is that why she gave me this one?" he said, before looking at Luffy, who was standing in front of him "... if you try to break this I'm throwing you in the ocean."

Luffy just laughed "Naw, just wanted to say sorry if I pissed you off."

Lumen blinked several times at that, before letting out a sigh and smiling "Meh, it's fine Luffy, guess it wouldn't be you if you didn't do anything stupid. Now come on, let's show whatever this Little Garden place has who's boss," he added with a smirk.

"Yeah!" Luffy grinned as the ship continued on to their next destination.

* * *

 **Ta-da!**

 **So, how did you like all those special surprises?**

 **So, yeahp, showing off an actual usage of a Single Scanning Charge, which is a sword beam like in Zelda.**

 **Lumen likes to explore all the available paths to him, and he had plenty of Cells from the two Yummies he's defeated so far, so he can certainly experiment.**

 **We also get to see him utterly destroy Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, followed by getting the Zou medal, going Gatakiriba for the first time, and then getting the Kame medal.**

 **Why did Robin have that medal you ask?**

 **All will be revealed in time, even if takes a LOT of time.**

 **Also, that joke with Zoro about Ryoga from Ranma, Timeless suggested it, and I couldn't deny how hilarious it would be to have that be a thing even if just for a gag.**

 **So, we put it in.**

 **Anyway, see ya next time!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone and welcome back to Desire Cruise!**

 **Slightly smaller chapter today, because we're FINALLY entering a multi chapter arc, with Little Garden being split up a bit.**

 **Hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

As the Going Merry sailed on towards its destination… it suddenly stopped.

"Again?" Lumen said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the sail.

"This is probably the third time today. And when we're in such a hurry too." Nami said with a sigh.

"And while we sit here idle…" Vivi trailed off with a sad look.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll make it in time." Nami told her reassuringly.

"I'll transform into OOO and pull the ship if I have to." Lumen added.

Vivi smiled slightly, nodding in thanks to the two of them.

"Alright, let's fish while we wait!" Luffy said suddenly, with Carue quacking in agreement.

"Might as well do something useful." Sanji said with a nod as he went to look for the bait… only to come back a few minutes later with an empty bucket "Alright, anybody knows what happened?"

"What's wrong?" Usopp asked as he came to check, and gaped as he saw the empty bucket "The hell? Didn't we still have plenty of those?"

"Uh? What's in the bucket guys?" Luffy asked he came to check, and blinked, before grinning "Oh hey, there was one left." he said and picked up a mealworm from the bucket, the last one left at that… and stuck it in his mouth, eating it.

Sanji and Usopp gaped at him, before shouting "What the hell man! You don't eat that stuff!"

"Huh? You mean I'm not supposed to?" Luffy questioned in confusion.

"Of course the idiot captain doesn't know eating worms is stupid." Lumen sighed as he hung his head.

"Now what do we use for bait?" Usopp groaned.

"How about this?" Luffy suggested as he took out a coconut from his pocket.

"No you moron, and why do you even have that anyway?" Sanji asked in exasperation.

"Uh… can't remember." Luffy shrugged, before pointing at Carue "How about him though?"

"Well…" Sanji mused as he looked at the duck, who suddenly stepped back and looked nervous.

Before the two could even TRY chasing it around, they both got hit in the back of the head, sending them to the ground, revealing Lumen and Usopp each holding a hammer "Don't use the duck as bait."

"Is Luffy being a moron again?" Zoro groused as he cracked an eye open.

"As usual." Usopp said with a groan.

"It's a bit hard to believe he's worth 30 million Berries." Vivi said unsurely.

"You don't have to be smart to be wanted for a high price. Just destructive and/or pissed off the wrong guy," Lumen shrugged, knowing the REAL reason for Luffy's starting bounty.

"Well, partly that second one, and partly because he defeated Arlong, Don Krieg, Buggy the Clown, and although no one will ever know it, Captain Kuro." Nami added on.

"He also beat that jerkass marine that had an axe for a hand." Zoro chimed in.

"Ah, Axe-Hand Morgan, explains why he's locked up now." Nami said, having seen the news recently.

Luffy chuckled as he got up "Reminds me of Coby, I wonder if he's still training hard?"

"Who's Coby?" Usopp asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My friend, he's training hard to become a Marine Admiral." Luffy said with a laugh.

"Huh, a Pirate being friends with a Marine...eh, could have been worse," Lumen shrugged.

After that, they continued sailing on once the wind picked back up, a few hours passing, with Usopp practicing some sort of speech, before Zoro called him an idiot, while Vivi was teaching Nami about some of the dangers of the Grand Line.

As for Luffy, he was bugging Lumen about something.

"So, how come you haven't used that bike yet again?" Luffy asked as he layed spread eagle on Merry's head, looking at Lumen while upside down.

"Because we've encountered mostly water?" Lumen pointed out a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but can't you just go on the water with it?" Luffy asked.

Lumen looked at him dully "Luffy… that is one of the stupidest things you've ever said."

"But you said those can things could do lots of things right? What if one can make it float on water?" Luffy pointed out.

Lumen opened his mouth to refute that, before pausing as he DID have an unknown can, taking the Shachi can out of his pocket, weighing his options, until he sighed "Alright, let's see what this can do."

With that in mind, and a bit of coordination, the Ride Vendor was brought out on deck, while he had the Shachi Candroid ready. "Okay, everyone stand back. There's no telling what this thing might do, so better safe than sorry," Lumen said.

"No problem, we'll stay out of the way," Usopp said...from on top of the main mast.

"...this is a helper robot, not a bomb ya goof troop reject," Lumen deadpanned. Sighing, he popped the top, and released it.

The can folded open, till it had the general shape of a miniaturised killer whale, which started floating around in the air, until it spotted the Ride Vendor and floated towards it… and then started growing, while the front wheel of the Ride Vendor split open and relocated to the back, as the Candroid shifted some pieces of it around before attaching to the front of the Ride Vendor, making the top look vaguely like the head of a killer whale, while the rest of the body formed some sort of flotation device around the bike.

Lumen blinked at it a few times, before grinning "Well, what do you know, I have a jet ski option… I think I'll call it the ShaRide Vendor."

Sanji took a closer look at the new machine and whistled a little. "Well, this is definitely going to be useful, especially if we're stuck fighting on the ocean...or if a certain someone goes overboard," he added the last bit with a mild deadpan, everyone looking at Luffy at that.

"Well...since this is here, might as well take it for a ride," Lumen mused. "Especially since the ship's going kinda slowly anyway…" he sighed.

"You sure this thing can actually pull the entire ship?" Zoro blinked.

"No clue honestly, but won't know until we try," Lumen shrugged, before popping a pair of Batta Candroids, and giving one to Nami. "I'll pull, you navigate and tell me where to go," he said.

"Right," Nami nodded, understanding where he was going, and quickly getting to the front of the Merry. It wasn't long before he was once again in the armor of OOO, on top of the ShaRide Vendor, and was now in the water, the crew having tied the Merry to the Ride Vendor with a good amount of strong rope.

"Ready everyone?" he asked, to which everyone gave sounds of agreement, while hanging on to various parts of the Merry just in case. "Okay, then let's go!" he said before gunning the engine, the ShaRide Vendor soon actually towing the Merry. This actually went on for a while...before a warning appeared over the Vendor. "Low on energy?" OOO frowned...before he noticed the slot right under the warning that had appeared...seeing as it was literally holographic somehow. Blinking, he pulled out a Cell Medal, and inserted it, to which the energy was full again. "...you're joking…" he deadpanned. "I'm riding a kiddie ride on steroids?" he asked incredulously. Shaking his head, he took out he Batta Candroid. "Are we still on course?" he asked.

"Just a bit towards starboard. Oh, and the News Coo arrived while you weren't looking, Luffy's Marine Friend is apparently at Marine Headquarters now." Nami informed him

"That so? Good for him then… weird that I'm saying that even though he'll probably chase us one day." he said with a chuckle as he turned towards starboard.

* * *

The ride continued for a while more, and before long they could see the next island.

OOO had to wonder why it was called Little Garden, considering they could see what appeared to be two gigantic mountains covered in moss on them, along with a few volcanoes. Seeing as they were close enough, he stopped the engine, and soon got back on the Merry and untransformed… JUST in time to hear Zoro ask the exact question on his mind.

"This place doesn't exactly fit its cute name," Nami said in response, before noticing a river opening.

"Guess that's our way in," Lumen mused.

"This place is like some sort of lost island looking place." Usopp said with a slight shiver as they entered the river and observed the thick trees, hiding most of the land from view.

"I'm still worried about what Ms. All-Sunday said, about how we'd never reach Alabasta because of this island." Vivi said in worry.

"Well, assuming she's right, then I'm guessing something about this island is dangerous, and for whatever reason, we're gonna be stuck here long enough for it to be able to do us in...at least that's what SHE thinks," Lumen mused.

"And we can't exactly skip it either," Sanji frowned, remembering how the Log Pose worked.

"And not to mention… look at the plants. They're like nothing I've ever seen," Nami frowned.

"You know... I feel like I've seen those before…" Lumen frowned.

"You have? Cool, where did you see it?" Luffy asked.

"Uh...I think it was in a book," Lumen frowned again. "But it's been so long that I can't seem to remember what it was about…" he sighed.

"Well, it'll probably come back to you eventually." Zoro shrugged.

Suddenly, they heard a loud, almost bird-like screech come from the air, with Nami and Usopp both hiding behind Lumen with a flinch.

"Ok… really you two?" he said in deadpan.

"There's no need to fear Nami, I'm sure it was just some sort of bird." Sanji said with a grin.

It was at that moment that Luffy looked up, seeing a large shadow descending on them "Hey, is that some kind of lizard?"

Everybody looked up, and noticed the huge creature descending on the ship, before Sanji frowned and jumped up, kicking it in the head and sending it away, the creature flying away after righting itself.

"Some kind of big lizard bird thing." Sanji rectified Luffy's words as he landed back on the deck.

"Oh crap…" Lumen muttered while pale "That was an archaeopteryx… And I recognise those plants now, their prehistoric."

"Prehistoric? You mean…?" Nami trailed off fearfully as she gripped his shirt nervously.

Suddenly, they heard a growl come from the woods, seeing a tiger walk out… before collapsing to the ground, blood falling out of it's stomach.

"AAAGGGHHH! That Tiger is huge!" Usopp screamed in fear.

"Correction, Saber-Tooth Tiger." Lumen said as he pointed out the large teeth of the tiger before turning to Vivi "So… prehistoric islands are a thing?"

Vivi swallowed nervously "It would seem so."

"What does prehistoric mean?" Luffy asked cluelessly.

"It means lots of dinosaurs." Zoro answered dryly.

Luffy, quite obviously, got a gigantic grin at that.

"Can we not set foot on this island?" Usopp asked nervously, clinging to Lumen's leg, with the blonde trying to shake him off.

"Agreed, let's just wait on Merry for the log to set, we gotta hurry to Alabasta after all." Nami said with a nervous laugh.

"As much as I want to call you two cowards, I'm inclined to agree, I have a bad feeling about a dinosaur island, and it has to do with OOO." Lumen said with a frown.

"Do we want to know?" Zoro asked.

"I'd rather not talk about THOSE things unless it's absolutely necessary." Lumen shot back, earning a nod from Zoro.

Though, knowing their luck, Lumen WOULD be talking about it soon.

"Hey Sanji, make a lunchbox!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Lunchbox? What kind?" Sanji asked curiously.

"Pirate lunchbox obviously." Luffy said with a laugh, before looking out at the jungle "I can smell adventure!"

"Well...can't argue with that one," Lumen smiled wryly. The closest thing they could get to a real Jurassic Park? What could that be OTHER than adventure.

"W-wait just a second! Where do you think you're going?!" Nami asked Luffy, trying to stop him.

"On an adventure duh! Wanna come along?" Luffy asked with a big grin.

Nami sighed sadly as she realised it was too late to stop him.

Vivi looked pensive, before turning to Luffy "May I come with you?"

"Sure! Sanji, make that two Pirate Lunchboxes!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Alright you rubber idiot, just give me a minute." Sanji said with a chuckle as he went into the kitchen.

"Why are you going with him?!" Nami asked the princess incredulously.

"Well, I figured I could use this chance to take my mind off of things, make sure I don't kill myself over worrying about Alabasta." Vivi replied easily "So I'll just explore until the log sets."

"Well, I mean, ok, maybe, but you don't know Luffy like we do! Something really dumb is going to happen, and it's gonna be his fault!" Nami argued.

"Can confirm for the month I've been on the crew, when something dumb happens, it's usually his fault." Lumen said with a nod.

"Well, I'll be fine, Carue will be with me after all." Vivi said with a smile, while Carue's bill dropped open and he stared at his owner with eyes that were screaming 'Are you insane?!'.

"Hey Sanji! Make a drink for the duck!" Lumen shouted to the cabin, the cook flashing a thumbs up from the door.

Minutes later, Luffy had his lunchbox and jumped off the ship, followed by Carue who was carrying Vivi "We'll be back soon!" the princess said, before they ran off into the jungle.

"Well, if they're going to be out exploring and there's nothing going on, I think I'll go for a walk," Zoro said.

"Hey, if you're going out for a walk, we're running low on supplies. If you see any animals that look edible, bring them back for us will ya," Sanji said.

"Sure. I'll be sure to bring back any animals you'd never be able to kill yourself," Zoro said simply. Unfortunately...that was a trigger. Before long, Sanji had challenged Zoro to a hunting contest, and now the two of them were going into the forest, to compete and see who could bring back the most kilograms of meat.

"Why does everyone on this ship have to be like that…" Nami said with tears of despair.

"I know how you feel, Nami. Don't cry, at least I'm by your side," Usopp said in equal despair.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" Lumen said in mild amusement, currently sitting on a deck chair he pulled out and taking the daily paper. He figured he might as well read while waiting for the others to come back. However, that was when he'd noticed something interesting. Namely one of the articles. "What… what the hell?!"

Nami flinched "Yeah… I saw it too."

"And why didn't you tell Vivi?" he asked incredulously.

"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked.

"Things in Alabasta are getting worse." Lumen said as he went and gave the newspaper to Usopp, who read the article, his eyes slowly growing wider by the moment.

"Before either of you say anything, I didn't speak because I didn't want to stress Vivi out, she's already super worried about her home, how do you think it would get if she knew about THAT?" Nami asked as she pointed at the article.

Lumen and Usopp both frowned in thought at that, before sighing "You make a good point." Lumen said.

"So… what do we do?" Usopp asked in worry.

"We don't tell her, not yet at least, and we make sure we get to Alabasta ASAP." Nami answered seriously, earning nods from the other two.

"Now if only the Log would set already," Lumen sighed. "I hope this doesn't become a common issue…"

His musings were interrupted, as he heard a loud crack behind him, turning around as Nami and Usopp paled at the sight, seeing a large shadow looming over the ship "What… the hell?"

The shadow seemed to look down at them, and Lumen prepared himself for a fight… until the shadow let out a loud, booming, and distinct laugh that sounded like "Gabababababa!", and then it crouched down, revealing it's face, and Lumen could see it appeared to be a middle aged man, dressed up like a viking, with a an axe shaped beard… oh, and he was clearly a giant.

"Well, been a while since humans came onto Little Garden, not since that Louis Arnote fellow a while ago who gave the island a name. So, do you have any rum?" the giant asked with an honestly friendly grin.

Not that Nami and Usopp really noticed since they were busy being scared shitless. Lumen on the other hand…

"I'm pretty sure we have a bit still. Not sure how much that would be for you though," he said, sounding a little apologetic, seeing as he was PRETTY sure the amount of Rum they had would be like a shot cup at best for a giant.

Usopp and Nami looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Oh, so you do have some," The giant laughed heartily "Well, good to hear, how much would you be willing to part with?"

"Well… depends on Zoro really, the idiot likes getting drunk, so we need to keep a few… how does 6 sound?" Lumen mused.

"Sounds perfect, just enough for my friend and I." the giant laughed...before he suddenly shouted, scaring Nami and Usopp, while Lumen jumped in surprise...until the giant turned around to reveal that a dinosaur had decided to...rather comically...bite him in the butt. It took all the restraint in him to NOT laugh at the comical sight of a T-Rex or something sinking its teeth into the giant's butt in a way that looked like a dog biting someone in the butt in a comedy cartoon.

The giant grumbled, before grabbing axe from beneath his cape and swinging it at the T-Rex, chopping off its head.

While Nami and Usopp screamed in fright at how strong the giant was to just so easily kill a dinosaur, the KING of dinosaurs at that, Lumen just whistled, honestly impressed.

What? He'd played video games and watched plenty of anime, seeing a giant beheading a dinosaur wasn't that weird when you compared it to things like a marsupial that likes to break boxes and a dragon that has a thing for roasting sheep.

"I'm Brogy! Gababababa! I am Elbaf's strongest warrior!" he roared as he lifted his axe in victory and held the severed head of the dinosaur. Once that was done, he plopped the head near the Merry and grinned again. "Now that I've got some meat, let me welcome you as my guest."

"Cool. Never had dinosaur before," Lumen said cheerfully, while Nami and Usopp were busy playing dead.

* * *

"Well, the meat looks almost done." Lumen said with a grin as he looked at the huge chunk of meat cooking "Ah, by the way, you might know this Brogy, but how long does it take a Log Pose to set?"

"Hmm? Oh, it takes a full year, rather troublesome for you humans obviously." Brogy answered, looking at Lumen for a moment, before turning to fanning the flames… by blowing on them.

Lumen winced at that, glancing at Nami who's face had turn white in despair "At least I didn't ask to be Wizard, that would be instant Phantom." he muttered to himself.

"There! It's all cooked, so eat up!" Brogy grinned as he gave them a well cooked chunk of meat on a bone, one that might even take LUFFY a few minutes to eat up...or maybe 10 seconds if he was hungry enough.

"Thanks, this looks great," Lumen grinned, filing away the problem for now, as he took a bite, wincing a bit at the heat, but ultimately enjoying it. "Hey guys, you should try some. It's really good," he said to Nami and Usopp who seemed VERY nervous. Probably cause of the human skeletons nearby.

"W-we're not hungry," they said nervously.

Lumen sweatdropped at them "You two do know that giants are technically overgrown humans with triple the lifespan right? To them, eating a human would be akin to eating a giant baby, a big no no."

"Wait, those two thought I was gonna eat them?! But that's disgusting!" Brogy said in shock.

"See what I mean?" Lumen said, hooking his thumb at Brogy, before turning to said giant. "You'll have to excuse them. They're both from East Blue, and well...let's just say that Blue isn't the most privy to info on other races. Doesn't help most of the news is just what the World Government thinks is important, so...yeah. Giants not exactly common knowledge," Lumen said apologetically.

"Ah, it's fine, I know how much of a pain they can be, they put those bounties on my friend and I years ago after all." Brogy waved it off now that he understood.

Usopp perked up at hearing that "Wait, you're a pirate?"

Brogy grinned proudly "That's right, you're looking at Brogy the Red Ogre, co-captain of the Giant Pirates along with my good friend Dorry the Blue Ogre, who keeps saying he's the strongest of Elbaf when he's not!" Brogy said the last part louder, looking in another direction, and received a shout "I totally am and you know it!"

"Holy shit. It's a giant version of Zoro and Sanji," Lumen sweat dropped. "Only a bit more cordial."

At that moment, said two sneezed, both grumbling about who was talking about them… though Sanji started hoping it was Nami or Vivi.

"Wait, so, this Elbaf place is your home?" Usopp asked, getting more interested.

"That's right, a land of warriors! It's where we giants live! Last time I heard information about the place though was when some kid apparently threw a huge tantrum and broke some houses and even hurt one of the elders… I think her name was Linlin or whatever." Brogy mused.

Lumen blinked at that, thinking back on the big names his sister had told him about, before looking up at Brogy "By any chance, do you mean Charlotte Linlin?"

"Yeah! That's the one! You know her?" Brogy asked with a grin.

"I know OF her. She's one of the Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin, AKA, Big Mom, a woman with a pirate crew made up of her 50+ children and her in-laws, she's on par with people of the likes of Whitebeard, Red Hair Shanks, and Kaido the Beast, the four strongest pirates in the New World." Lumen explained. "Unfortunately I hear she's more like Kaido than the other two. Stereotype pirate, if you know what I mean. I hear she's destroyed countries in her own territory just because they couldn't pay their tribute on time."

"Yeesh, and I thought the news I heard was bad," Brogy frowned.

"She'd destroy her own territory...just because they didn't pay on time?!" Nami gasped in horror.

"It gets better. She doesn't care if there's a very reasonable and uncontrollable explanation for the lateness. Either you do EXACTLY as she tells you or its curtains," Lumen said taking another bite. "Oh, and the tribute is usually in sweets of some kind, so say your oven is broken, and you're short of the agreed amount, well...start running. You MIGHT be able to survive. And don't get me started on the 'parties' she throws. If you get an invitation, you'd better show up even if you're just a head and spine, or she'll have someone you care for beheaded and the severed head sent to you gift wrapped. Bottom line if you were to look up the word 'bitch', you'd find Charlotte Linlin's picture right next to the word."

Nami and Usopp both had horrified and sick looks… which was followed by dawning realization "Oh dear Oda Luffy's gonna piss her off somehow and we'll have to fight her won't we?" Nami said fearfully.

Lumen sighed, going over to pat her on the back "It's highly likely, seeing as she's also gunning for the 'Pirate King' title. Sorry."

"I'm too young and pretty to die!" Nami wailed as she hugged him, needing a lifeline of some sort at the moment.

"Well, both of those are true, but get yourself together would you?" Lumen said with a roll of his eyes. "First of all, she's all the way in the New World, which thankfully, is still a long way to come. Second, we're on a cruise with the future Pirate King. I'd be surprised if we DIDN'T end up having to fight an Emperor or two," he sighed. "Luffy's not the first and not the last who'll be gunning for the title, so that's literally an unavoidable conflict right there."

She hung her head at this words, before standing up, grabbing his shirt, and looking at him with a mild glare "I both hate and love the fact you're one of the most sensible persons on our damned crew."

"I figured as much. But hey, look at this this way, at least that means you can vent to me about the others being morons." He said with a shrug.

She looked at him for a long moment, before sighing "I DO need to do that sometimes."

"Anyway, enough about evil pirates we'll have to deal with in the future. Try some of this dinosaur meat. Tastes just like pork," Lumen said, taking another bite...before he felt something hard. "Ouch…" he groaned as he pulled out the thing in question...and well… "Seriously? Another one. Talk about luck," he blinked as he realized he'd found another Core Medal. Of course, when he turned it around and also got the meat off so he could see the color...the color on his face drained away. "Shit shit shit shit shit!" Lumen gasped, dropping the medal and practically backpedalling away from it.

"What's wrong?" Usopp asked with a worried frown as he picked up the medal, only for Lumen to slap it out of his hand "Hey!"

"Don't touch it! It's dangerous!" he said, and Usopp meekly nodded at the pissed off face Lumen was giving him.

"Lumen… what's wrong with that medal?." Nami asked apprehensively.

Lumen swallowed thickly, before picking up the medal with the sleeve of his shirt, wanting to avoid touching it as much as possible, letting them see the purple medal depicting the face of a T-Rex "This is one of the Purple Core Medals… and they are special in a bad way."

"Well, this sounds like an interesting tale… I think I've heard the word Core Medal before though." Brogy mused.

"If you've heard the story of the Multi-King, then you have heard the word before. But this Medal right here… it's the antithesis of desire, it's void, nothingness, emotionless, pure destruction."

"Wait...what are you trying to say?" Nami gulped.

"The Purple Medals embody the absence of desire, absence of everything that is life. Your dream to draw a map of the world, Zoro's dream to be the greatest swordsman, heck, even Luffy's dream to be Pirate King. The Purple Medals have the power to destroy those dreams, leaving them just shells of their former self. If the other Core Medals are embodiments of Desire, of the will that allows people to live and keep going through hardships, then the Purple Medals are that which kill all desire to even live," Lumen explained grimly.

The horrified silence that descended spoke volumes.

"Sh-should we get rid of this thing then? Maybe you could even destroy it?" Usopp offered with a quivering voice.

"I agree! Give it to me so I can crush it into dust!" Brogy said, glaring daggers at the small purple medal.

Lumen sighed "You're welcome to try, but Core Medals can't be destroyed… unless it's by the Purple Medals." he said, putting it on the ground so Brogy could try and break it.

"Well, it's never tasted the axe of a giant before." he said, and swung his axe down on the medal… but it didn't budge. It wasn't even driven into the ground, it just took on the attack, and didn't react.

Brogy glared at it, and tried again, and again, and after the fourth time even he couldn't deny Lumen's words. His axe which had felled the mightiest of creatures...was utterly useless against this evil thing.

"...now what do we do?" Nami frowned.

"...as much as I hate to say it…" Lumen sighed, before he gingerly picked up the Tyranno Medal with his sleeve, and soon wrapped it up in some cloth. "It'd be even LESS safe to just leave it lying around. We'll have to take it with us…" he said, his face just screaming 'this is gonna suck'.

"We're putting it in a treasure chest as soon as we get back to the Merry." Nami said seriously.

"And I'm gonna try to seal it up with as many steel sheets as possible." Usopp added.

"Good call, we REALLY don't want this getting out." Lumen nodded in approval. Once they said that though, the sound of the volcano erupting interrupted any further thoughts.

"Well, there's the signal," Brogy grinned.

"Signal for what?" Lumen blinked.

"Forgot when we did it, but when that volcano erupts, it's the signal for the 100 year long battle between me and Dorry," Brogy smirked as he got up, his axe in hand.

"Wait, hold on, why though?" Usopp asked.

"The laws of our home, when a feud is started, it's only settled in one way, we have to leave Elbaf, and be judged by our god in battle. The rightful victor of the duel is the only one allowed to return home… and the only one allowed to live." Brogy explained.

"And you've been doing this for a 100 years?!" Nami asked incredulously.

"Giants do have at least triple the lifespan of a human." Lumen pointed out.

"Still…" Nami trailed off.

"It's a cultural thing," Lumen sighed. "Can't say I like the idea of how it sounds, but who are we to judge their way of life," he said.

"But what's the point of fighting when you don't even remember the reason?" Nami sighed, shaking her head.

Lumen smirked at the question "Because at this point, that's not what it's about anymore."

"He's right." Usopp said as he looked at Brogy advancing, seeing another giant visible in the distance "At this point… it's about honor!"

"Though, honor or not…" Lumen mused, right as the two giants clashed, and a random tree landed not far from them. "We should probably relocate to a...safer...distance."

"I want to watch… but yeah, I guess I can step back a bit." Usopp said, glancing aside for a moment, seeing the logic in his words. Once they were at a safe distance, Usopp was soon enraptured by the battle waging on, and Lumen could see the admiration in Usopp's eyes as he watched the battle.

"Well, while Usopp does his thing, how about we go find the others?" Nami suggested "Maybe even head back to the ship and lock up that medal ASAP."

Lumen was about to agree, before hearing something faint carried on the wind, turning to the general direction, and just barely managing to see a splotch of yellow fall down into the trees "Belay that Nami, looks like the lemon bitch and her explosive pal found us."

Though she laughed a bit at the nicknames, she quickly sobered up "Right then, think their after Vivi?"

"Possibly, but they seemed awfully close to us, either their gunning for me due to revenge… or their after something else around here." Lumen mused.

"Whichever it is, think we should wait them out? Or head for them?" Nami mused.

"Honestly...I'm not sure," Lumen frowned. "On one hand, we know we can take them. But...who's to say they're coming alone?"

"That's a good point," Nami frowned. "So stay here?"

"Considering we SHOULD be able to, if worst come to worst, ask Brogy for help, though no, I don't want that to be a choice we need to take if we can help it, it's probably safer to stick around here...for now," Lumen said...before a thought crossed his mind. "Wait...didn't Brogy say he and Dorry have bounties on their heads?"

"He did, why?" Nami blinked.

"Well...think about it. An idiot like Luffy can be worth 30 million. How much do you think a pair of giant warriors would be worth? Assuming they're not petty enough to come to THIS island for revenge…what do you think is more likely they're after? Us? Or the Giants?"

Nami considered it for a moment, before nodding "It makes sense, twin captains would probably be worth a lot of money, so they'd try to take them down for funds, just like the operation in Whiskey Peak."

"Thing is, they can't do it directly, because these ARE giants we're talking about." Lumen added.

"Right, so they'd go for trickery and deceit." Nami nodded, seeing where he was going.

"But thing is...what can you do...how do you hurt something that could probably shrug off most things?" Lumen frowned, looking at the giants...before it hit him. "They'd attack somewhere they can't defend. Somewhere they could reach without being seen…" he frowned, thinking about the abilities he DID know about, hoping that was going to be key...and realized the likely answer. "They're going to use Mr. 5's bomb abilities."

"But...a bomb wouldn't hurt the giants," Nami pointed out.

"Yeah...if it was used outside," Lumen said.

Nami gained a horrified look at what Lumen was implying. "But...how would they possibly get a bomb…" she turned green as she continued. "...inside of a giant?"

"Remember, he said he turns his body, and whatever he touches, into an explosive, so what if he touches food or a drink?" Lumen suggested.

"Then...they could use anything the giants might be eating...or…" then it hit her. "The rum…!" she gasped. "They'd use the rum to get to them. Even if it doesn't kill them, well...they DID get it from us…" she gulped. "They could easily just pin it on us."

"Right, then we'd better make sure the rum isn't tampered with," Lumen said with a nod. With that, he went for where he knew the barrels had been left, but not before quickly transforming into OOO, just in case a fight was coming, and for good measure, he picked Unagi and Cheetah for mobility. Good thing too, as when he used the cheetah and taka powers, he could move faster and he saw...lo and behold, Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, with Mr. 5 about to turn one of the barrels of rum into explosives. "Hold it right there!" he growled, lashing out with the unagi whip, which caught Mr. 5 by surprise, and promptly electrocuted him.

"We just can't catch a break can we?" Ms. Valentine said with a grit teeth as she watched her partner twitch several times before he slowly got up, glaring bloody murder at OOO.

"When you're fighting me? No, you can't. And I doubt your luck has changed since last time." OOO said, cracking one of the whips for emphasis, making Ms. Valentine flinch. "So here's the deal, get away from the rum, and away from the giants, or I'll send you two flying so far away that finding RAFTEL will be easier than finding you two!" he said, before tossing Mr. 5 aside, making sure to get between them and the rum, deliberately being close. He figured if they HAD turned some into bombs...maybe this might make them trigger it. The explosion would draw attention either way.

Ms. Valentine growled, looking like she WANTED to fight...but she also knew she didn't stand a chance...until Mr. 5 grabbed onto her hand, and smirked up at her. Unfortunately, with the Taka eyes, OOO saw that smirk, and quickly started to move. Just in time too, as right when he started, one of the barrels exploded, something that spread to the other barrels due to the heat and force igniting the alcohol, creating for a ball of fire that seemingly engulfed OOO.

"His loss." Mr. 5 said, smirking.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" OOO shouted as he was propelled out of the flames a second later, his whips extended and lashed out at them, grabbing Ms. Valentine by the ankle and electrocuting her at the same time as he spun her around and sent her flying into Mr. 5 "Rule number one of being an assassin, confirm the death by finding the corpse, never assume."

The two of them painfully got up, gritting their teeth in anger. The plan was SUPPOSED to be simple...but now it'd gone to hell. "Guess we don't have much of a choice…" Mr. 5 grunted. Before actually throwing his own leg with a kick, which promptly exploded, causing the area to be covered in smoke...before the two were soon floating away using Ms. Valentine's fruit powers.

OOO looked at them floating away, evidently, Ms. Valentine COULD extend her fruit to another person if they were in contact with her.

"Well, glad you caught that in time." Nami said as she came closer.

"Too bad about the rum though. Oh well, better than someone drinking that," OOO said, before reverting to Lumen. On top of that, it seemed the explosion was...bigger than he'd expected, evident by how Usopp was running towards them, and heck, even Brogy and Dorry had stopped mid-fight, clearly having heard the explosion.

"What happened?!" Usopp gasped.

"A pair of Baroque Works agents came here. They were after Dorry and Brogy," Lumen said, giving the nutshell version.

"Well, they must have been quite desperate to want to go after us," came Brogy's voice, as he and another giant, one with a VERY long beard, wearing a roman style helmet and wielding a sword and a shield, wearing a more gladiator style outfit compared to Brogy's viking style.

"But I can respect their courage to want to fight us," the other giant, Dorry no doubt, said with a laugh.

"What courage? They were gonna turn the rum into a bomb and probably blow it up when one of you drank it," Lumen said flatly. "They no doubt figured if they can't kill you from the outside, they'd do it from the inside.

"They what?!" came the outraged responses from both giants AND Usopp.

"Its true. Lumen managed to stop them, but not before they already turned one of the rum barrels into a bomb. They tried to use the exploding rum to kill him earlier, which is what caused the explosion," Nami said.

The giants glared at that statement, before looking at each other. "Postpone our duel?" Brogy suggested.

"Until those cowards will bother us no longer," Dorry agreed as they shook hands.

"Now we just need to find the others and relay everything to them." Usopp said seriously.

"I believe I may have some of your friends in my camp, a boy with a straw hat and a girl with a large duck." Dorry said.

"Luffy, Vivi and Carue, the only ones missing are Sanji and Zoro." Lumen said with a sigh "Those two will be impossible to find."

"For now, let's focus on regrouping with the ones we know can be brought here, I think we have some covert operatives to sniff out." Nami said seriously.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Short rematch with the 5 duo, 3's plan being COMPLETELY derailed.**

 **And of course, the one you'll comment about, the Tyranno medal.**

 **In a world like One Piece, the purple medals are VERY dangerous.**

 **So Lumen makes sure everyone knows this.**

 **Also, Dorry and Brogy put a halt on their duel because someone had the nerve to try and throw trickery into their battles of honor.**

 **Don't piss off a giant by doing that, you'll regret it.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and see you next time!**


End file.
